Tremors spark fear in India

As Saturday dawns, Indian Army officers await relief supplies for quake victims in Ahmedabad, India

BHUJ, India -- Fresh tremors in the wake of India's earthquake have spread panic among survivors, sending workers running out of offices and into the open.

A series of tremors, measuring up to 5.0 on the Richter scale, hit the Gujarat region early on Saturday, an official at the Indian Meteorological department (IMD) in New Delhi said.

"The whole area shook and people ran out of office buildings," said a Reuters reporter in Kandla, the country's busiest port, which had just resumed some operations for the first time since the January earthquake.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Witnesses in Bhuj, the town worst affected in the quake that killed an estimated 30,000 people across the western state of Gujarat, also said they felt a fresh tremor -- one of 152 which officials say have hit the town since January 26.

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Survivors have spent their eighth night in the open, afraid to return to what is left of their homes while hundreds of thousands of others are facing years of living in tent cities.

Aid agencies say there is a now serious risk of epidemics from water contaminated by the thousands of dead bodies still lying under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

No major outbreaks of disease have been reported yet, but aid agencies say malaria, cholera and severe diarrhoea could rapidly spread through the crowded survivors' camps, which have little or no running water or toilets.

There are also increasing reports of respiratory problems in the young and old, the result of survivors being forced to sleep out overnight when temperatures drop dramatically.

Officials in Gujarat state, which bore the brunt of the quake's devastation, say the region was already suffering from the effects of a severe drought adding to the health risks posed by contaminated water.

Emergency aid reaches survivors

The first of seven U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo planes carrying supplies and equipment arrived in the Gurerati capital, Ahmedabad, on Saturday morning.

U.S. officials say one of the major bottlenecks hampering the flow of relief to quake victims has been a lack of people to take the goods off planes, but the aircraft carried support personnel.

A British emergency aid flight with more than 36 tonnes of supplies on board also left London on Saturday.

The British Airways flight carried aid workers as well as tents, clothing, blankets, plastic sheeting and medical equipment.

An earthquake survivor salvages bedposts from the rubble of her home on Saturday near Anjar, India

The Indian army has been praised for its help in distributing aid in one of the country's most militarily sensitive areas -- equipment such as two-way radio are usually banned.

"The military has been extraordinary here. They have bent over backwards for us," William Berger, regional adviser for the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, said.

The earthquake zone borders the Rann of Kutch, through which the border with Pakistan runs. The area often floods and both sides dispute where the border actually is.

Many survivors say they have received little or nothing in the way of aid and as desperation increases, there are growing reports of looting.

With whole towns and villages leveled by the disaster, authorities have begun dynamiting some of the few buildings left standing, but considered structurally unsound.

The quake lasted just 90 seconds, but relief workers say they are still only just beginning to assess the scale of the disaster.

The official death toll from the quake now stands at well over 15,000. That figure is expected to rise considerably, but the final toll may never be known.

Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharaf telephoned Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Friday to offer his condolences over the massive loss of life and property caused by the quake.

The call was the first contact made between the two leaders since Musharraf took power in Pakistan in 1999 and has raised hopes that the quake's aftermath could mark a departure from years of animosity between the two countries.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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U.S. Geological Survey
UNICEF relief efforts
International Red Cross and Red Crescent

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