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| India Earthquake 2000 |
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 February 26th 2001
One month after the catastrophe
In Buhj life continues
The rest of the world has already forgotten...Not us
CLIENTS | PHOTOS
The military airport is in the centre of the never ending flights of
humanitarian aide. Bhuj, the town nearest to the earthquake impact has
suffered terribly.
A Free Lens TV team stays in the region to shoot a 12 minute report on the catastrophe.
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Free Lens TV produced this reports for:
| PHOTOs |
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Carlos
representing MSF picks us up at the airport. The first few kilometres
through town thrust us into the heart of the subject. The town has been
devastated, we see the rests of entire buildings on the ground, houses
turned inside out, cracked walls. The inhabitants of the town have had
no choice but to live in the streets since the earthquake, one month
ago.
As we visit the town, the same images of desolation strike us. Only 20
000 people are left in Bhuj that was once the home of over 40 000. Many
have fled.
The traffic is chaotic, oxen pull old carts full of blocks of concrete.
Almost all of the shops have pulled down their metal shutters, stray
dogs wander in the streets dogs in search of food under the gravel that
imprisoned pigs and cows. The corpses in decomposition fill the air
with their foul smell.
All of the children want to be filmed, our big Betacam does not impress
them as they strike poses with big smiles on their faces. We find our
way through the ruins and we meet passers by that urge to tell us their
stories. It is 4pm and the light is already starting to dim, the
temperature fall. The inhabitants of Bhuj meet at the market that never
stopped during the ordeal. I notice the bright colours of the fruit and
vegetables that shine in the falling sun.
On
the road- side, the rest of a ten-story building, we see women and
children searching the ruins for objects to recycle. With heavy masses
they smash the blocks of concrete looking for the metal armatures that
they will sell for 80 pence per kilo. With 10 or 15 kilos per day they
will only earn enough to buy some fruit for their children.
At the foot of the ruins a log has been burning for hours, a man
approaches me and explains that yesterday a body was extracted from
under there. The victim’s funeral will be celebrated in traditional
Indian tradition, his body will be incinerated at the foot of his house
in ruins. This story deeply moves me as we ride back to the camp.
March 7th, Today we follow Marie Jo, Doctor for MSF that has been
working for the organisation for over a month, distributing
humanitarian aid. We visit in her company a small village on the
Pakistan border where she checks the humanitarian material that has
been installed, over 2000 tents delivered by MSF.
The village has been devastated, the stone houses unfortunately did not
resist. Tents have been put up replacing the houses in ruins. The only
victim of the village, a small boy was extracted from under the blocks
of concrete in time to save both of his legs.
It is heart breaking to leave all of the people we met behind but we
must go home. How long will it take them to rebuild? Will they ever
recover ? Will we ever discover the exact number of victims? All of
these questions will haunt us, we have so many memories, faces of
people we met. I know that it will take me some time to sit down and
start editing the pictures. With over thirty minutes of footage, the
choice will be more than difficult.
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