Fresh tremors in Chamoli

CHAMOLI, March 30 (PTI) — Fresh tremors were experienced in Chamoli today, a day after the area was jolted by a powerful earthquake claiming over 100 lives, even as rescue and relief operations began on a war-footing with Air Force helicopters lifting the stranded and the injured from remote villages rendered inaccessible due to landslides and damaged roads.

The tremors of mild intensity measuring less than 4 on the Richter scale which were felt early this morning lasted a few seconds, seismological officials said.

Rescuers with the help of Army and paramilitary forces were still struggling to reach the far-flung areas, many of which continued to be cut off, Chamoli District Magistrate Uma Kant Pawar said, adding 143 persons had been rescued from the debris of collapsed houses in the district.

Air Force and Army helicopters resumed their search for the dead or the wounded in the inaccessible areas at the break of the dawn. The choppers also dropped food packets in the affected areas.

Relief camps had been set up in Chamoli and nearby Gopeshwar where 19 seriously injured were being treated in a hospital, officials here said.

Several hundred injured, mostly trapped under the falling debris, were being treated in make shift hospitals set up by the paramilitary forces.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, who surveyed the quake-hit areas, told reporters that efforts were being made to provide relief to the affected families in the inaccessible areas through helicopters.

Many quake victims complained to the Chief Minister that the relief operations were inadequate.

The Army, the Indian Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Border Road Organisation (BRO) had been coordinating with the civil administration in the operations.

ITBP Director-General Gautam Kaul said that 200 tents had been pitched by the force to provide shelter to those who had been rendered homeless.

In Chamoli district, which bore the brunt of yesterday’s earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, nearly 95 per cent of the structures that included the district hospital, the jail, and several police barracks, besides a large number of houses, had been badly damaged or completely devastated, officials said.

In certain areas, the authorities had advised people against returning to the houses which might have survived the brunt of the disaster but rendered unsafe as most residents spent the night in makeshift shelters.

The authorities said they would be able to ascertain the extent of loss of life and damage to the property only after receiving complete information from remote villages.

Officials said of the over 100 deaths, 61 were in Chamoli district, 31 in Rudraprayag and five in Tehri districts. So far, 56 bodies had been extricated from the debris in Chamoli and 34 in Rudraprayag.

UP Hill Development Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal, however, did not rule out the chances of more bodies being recovered from far-flung villages, still to be accessed in the region.

The PWD had taken up the task of repairing roads wherever possible to restore the snapped communication. The three roads — the Gopeshwar-Chamoli road the, Karnprayag-Gharoli Road and Rudraprayag-Gaurikund road — damaged in the quake had been cleared, while work on the Gopeshwar-Ukhimath road was continuing, officials said.

In Chamoli, water and electricity remained cut off since the tremors hit the area on Sunday night, District Magistrate Uma Kant Pawar said.

Mr Pawar said that an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh had been announced for next of kin of those employed who lost their lives while Rs 50,000 would be paid to the families of the jobless victims.

He said Rs 25,000 would be paid to those whose houses had been damaged while the injured would get Rs 1,000 each, he said.

Meanwhile, the central government will provide from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the families who have lost their earning members in the Chamoli earthquake which has killed over 100 persons.

Announcing the Cabinet decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters in Delhi that the families who had lost non-earning members would be given Rs 50,000 each.

The seriously injured would get a compensation of Rs 10,000 each, he said, adding these compensations were in addition to what had been announced by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Mr Mahajan said according to the latest information from the state government, the quake claimed 61 lives in Chamoli, 31 in Rudraprayag and six in Tehri Garhwal. In Chamoli, 137 houses were destroyed.

In Pauri Garhwal, 750 houses were destroyed and 3,160 partially damaged. But no death had so far been reported there.

He said the Army had already been deployed to carry out rescue and relief operations and restore road and telecommunication links snapped by the earthquake.

He said the Centre would extend all possible help to the state government to carry out relief operation on a war-footing.