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India: Damage costs $5.5B or higher

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has put the losses in the earthquake-ravaged state of Gujarat at about $5.5 billion.

FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra said that in addition to this amount, there was a daily production loss of about $111 million.

Another key business organization, the Confederation of Indian Industry, said it was impossible to weigh up the destruction caused by the quake, which has claimed at least 20,000 lives.

The CII report released Monday said the loss of life, property and assets in the Kutch region in Gujarat -- where the roads, bridges and telecom network were severely damaged -- is impossible to calculate.

"The entire Kutch region has been devastated with all the houses, colleges and schools completely damaged. In these circumstances, with the entire infrastructure in the Kutch region destroyed, the Confederation has pointed out that the monetary impact would be very difficult to calculate," it said in the statement.

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It said the area's industrial units were likely to operate at only 50 percent capacity in the next seven days.

"The operations would be mainly impacted because of several employees in various factories leaving the area and the support services including transport, banking and insurance companies are paralyzed at present.

"Even though economic loss by way of destruction of assets may not be much for the industry, there would be a loss in production because of these factors," the CII said.

It estimated industry could operate at 70 percent capacity in the second week.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who toured Gujarat on Monday, announced $108 million in assistance to the Gujarat government for relief operations, in addition to the sanctioned $4.3 million from the prime minister's relief fund, half of which has already been given.

The Indian government has asked for a $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for reconstruction.

The World Bank said Monday it would release $300 million in immediate relief assistance, and would assemble long-term "reconstruction and disaster mitigation packages," for which a new loan will be provided.

The U. N. children's fund UNICEF pledged at least $8 million in emergency aid, including blankets, water purification equipment and cooking utensils. The agency said Monday it intends to earmark at least $2 million more in the near future for schools and teaching supplies.

The United States government had already given almost $1 million to help with the quake recovery. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington promised to eventually donate $5 million.

Regional archrival Pakistan said it would send a planeload of relief supplies and Britain pledged $14.6 million to fund emergency relief work.

Anxious to help friends and family back home, Gujaratis and other Indian-Americans living in the United States poured tens of thousands of dollars into relief funds for earthquake victims.

The Reserve Bank of India said it has asked authorized dealers in foreign exchange to quickly process inward remittances for the state of Gujarat. The RBI said it asked banks to ensure immediate credit of such payments to the account of the beneficiaries.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.