What can we learn from this tragedy?
The facts: The 7.7 magnitude quake, which struck Western India in the early morning hours of January 26, was a terrible tragedy. More than 265 after-shock tremors have since rocked the region. This was India's worst quake in over 50 years. Officially, 17,000 people have died. Unofficial estimates put the death toll in the range of 30,000. India's Defense Minister put the toll at nearly 100,000. Countless more have been bruised, maimed, orphaned and left destitute. Entire families have perished. As reporter S. Prasannarajan writes: "even ghosts won't have enough places to haunt in the ruins of Kutch (In the seismology of life, sorrow cannot be measured on the Richter scale, and loss cannot be captured in dead denominations. An implosion in the deep recesses of earth can be explained by science, but the irrationality of death, buried beneath shapeless mountains of stone, iron, wood and dust, can only be explained by the heartbeats of the living, by the forlorn hope of the abandoned, by the frozen tears of the orphaned, by the stoic march of the displaced ... or, by the carbonized remains of the beloved. A few minutes that shook the earth on a lazy morning have grown into an eternity of terror."

More than a million people are homeless. The damage has been put in billions of dollars. Nearly 15,000 primary schools or more than half of the state's schools have been flattened. Nearly 15 million of children under 14 have been affected, 2.5 million severely. Hundreds have been rendered orphans. The quake primarily impacted the Kutch desert, and the villages or towns of Bhuj, Bhachau, Adhoi, Dhamkda and Anjar. Many villages have been wiped off the map. The Rann of Kutch is in earthquake zone 5, the most vulnerable among the five seismic zones. The state government of Gujarat was also "knocked out by the earthquake" The epicenter of the earthquake was not identified until 3 PM on the 26th. Nearly 36 hours after the quake, the Government was struggling to get together cranes and earth-moving equipment to clear the rubble and pull out survivors though Gujarat is the second most industrialized state of the nation. When it is a well-known fact that the first 24 to 48 hours are the most critical in pulling out the survivors from the rubble. The Red Cross said that it took six long days before smooth coordination was established between the government and non-government agencies engaged in relief operations.

Bhachau, a town of 30,000, surrounded by rugged hills, was a beautiful and wealthy town. Despite a persistent drought in the region, this village has been quite prosperous due to the remittances by the Gujaratis living abroad. It had a thriving business community, mostly in the garment industry. There were dozens of schools and a big hospital. Today, no business or house still stands after the killer quake. In the once thriving village of Adhoi, not a single building was left habitable after the quake. The city of Bhuj where 150,000 people lived, was turned into rubble with hardly a building left standing. Businesses were ruined, infra-structure torn apart, and basic services rendered non-existent. Cities as far as Surat were affected. Tremors were felt as far North as Delhi, and down South too.

The killer-quake was a natural disaster, but the magnitude of suffering and damage was man-made. We must learn from this great event, and vow not to have these man-made mistakes recur again. Otherwise, the souls of the hundreds who died will not rest in peace.

What can we learn? Based on the experiences of the last few weeks since the earthquake, we can summarize the learnings as follows:
1. Lack of a National Crisis Management and Disaster Recovery Plan. We must equip the administrators at the local, regional and national level with training and plans to deal with such natural calamities. We can do it. We have done well in defending our borders, We have most recently done well in managing over 75 million pilgrims at the Kumbh Mela. Let us learn from this event, and commit to do this within the next two years after prioritizing the most-prone regions in our Nation.

2. Lack of National program to identify quake-prone regions, and laws to mandate the building of quake-proof housing. Just imagine a quake of similar intensity in Delhi or Mumbai. Guidelines for quake-resistant building construction must be developed and enforced without fail. Let us not forget that Delhi lies on four fault lines, and at least 50% of its buildings will not meet the quake-resistant standards. Let us learn from this event, and train engineers.

3. Lack of morals in ensuring that the massive aid pouring from thousands outside India get to the cause of those affected by the quake. While the NRI's and NGO's have responded quickly and massively to collect cash and kind (.one question lingers on. Will this go to the politicians' Swiss accounts or will the money really go to help the affected population? I cannot answer this question honestly. That is a shame.

Post-script: There were some good stories of hope, bravery and courage during those critical days. Which we should not ignore either. Examples are:
1. Hindu-Muslim unity in the village of Dhori. In this village of mixed population, the earthquake brought the Hindus and Muslims to work united in the aftermath. Let us learn.

2. Corporate sponsorships and adoption of some villages: Reliance Industries has donated fifteen crore rupees, and adopted the town of Anjar. Essar has proposed to adopt Surendranagar. L&T has similar plans. American Express, which has significant presence in India has also donated over $100,000 and promised to match the contributions of its employees. .Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma Industries is trying to rehabilitate the homeless in Ahmedabad.

3. The efforts of the Gujaratis and Kutchis living outside the affected areas to help, especially doctors who flew in from US.

The Gujaratis are very enterprising, and have an uncommon zeal to succeed. They are backed by a rare spirit (and if the Government cooperates, then Gujarat will be back to normal very soon.

Our own Her Holiness Guru Maa Jyotishanand Sarawati is in the process of collecting funds, and is planning to personally lead a team of doctors and volunteers to spend a few days helping the affected people. Let us learn. Nature will do what it has to. Let us humans not make it worse.

Jai Sri Hanuman!