Aid officials assess quake damage

By Douglas Herbert, CNN.com Europe writer

LONDON, England (CNN) -- International relief agencies held off on broader appeals for aid on Friday as they geared up to assess damage from a major earthquake in India.

In Britain, home to Europe's largest population of Asian sub-continentals, officials said they were coordinating with staff near the quake's epicentre in a desert plateau in western India, near the border with Pakistan.

The quake, centred in the arid western Indian state of Gujarat, has already killed hundreds of people, according to local officials, derailing trains, severing water mains and power lines, and caving in mines.

The U.S. Geological survey reported a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale -- substantially higher than the 6.9 reading initially given by the Indian Meteorological Institute.

Antony Robbins, a spokesman for UK CARE International said his agency had sent a member of its emergency staff from Udaipur, in northern India, to a field office in Jamnagar to coordinate a response with U.S. aid officials, with UK government support.

"We have to be absolutely certain that if we do appeal to the British people that we will definitely need that money over and above our development work … and that we can guarantee that we can spend that money in a given time," Robbins said.

A spokesman with the British Red Cross said the agency was keeping closely in touch with its international federation in Geneva, Switzerland. Pending further notice, the official said, the immediate relief effort was being handled by staff from the Indian Red Cross.

"In terms of Red Cross movement, we would be able to supply a lot, but it depends on needs," the spokesman said.

Robbins said the priority was to locate people trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings, and find shelter and fresh food and water supplies for uprooted survivors.

Emergency workers are relying as much as possible on local initiative and resources to deal with the aftermath of the quake.

Brendan Gormley, chief executive of the Disaster Emergencies Committee, an umbrella group comprised of major relief agencies, said information on the disaster had been "trickling in," with many local officials hard to reach on India's Republic Day, a national holiday.

While calling the disaster "a major earthquake," Gormley said it is still too early to fully assess the relief needs in the stricken areas. But he expressed confidence in what he called "a robust self-help policy" that India has demonstrated to the world in the past.

"They will be typically proud and quick in wanting to show that they are reacting rapidly," he said. "At a political level ... the difficulty is translating that into timely and effective action," as borne out by the problems during the massive relief effort following the devastating Orissa cyclone in October 1999.

India is "traditionally reluctant to ask for outside help and will want to demonstrate that it can and wants to cope. They have been criticised in the past for not taking enough preventative measures."

The latest quake comes less than two weeks after a 7.6-magnitude quake wrecked the homes of about 10 percent of the population in El Salvador, triggering deadly mudslides, blocking roads and damaging hundreds of schools and hospitals.

"It doesn't seem to be of the magnitude of the Salvador quake," where more than 700 perished and almost 4,000 were injured, Robbins said.

Piara S. Khabra, a UK member of parliament representing Ealing Southall, a hub of London's Asian community, said he planned to raise the issue of aid relief during a previously planned meeting with Britain's secretary for international development, Clare Short, set for Monday.

Khabra said Britain's Indian community, which numbers almost one million people, rallied to the aid of millions left homeless in the wake of the powerful Orissa cyclone in October 1999, one of the region's worst ever.

Orissa churned up 155mph winds and 20-foot tidal waves as it slammed into India's eastern coast, flattening homes, trees, and utility lines.

But Khabra expressed confidence India had the resources to handle the latest natural disaster.

"India is not a country as poor as El Salvador," Khabra said.

"India has got the economic ability to assist the people in the area, so that could be one of the reasons why the international community may not be taking that serious action. India is a developing country, not as poor as Bangladesh or Pakistan."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Hundreds feared dead in India quake
January 26, 2001
Rescue, recovery efforts go on after Salvadoran quake
January 15, 2001
Major earthquake strikes Central America
January 13, 2001

U.S. Geological Survey
Gujarat State Government
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
CARE

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