Quake homeless offered food for work

AHMEDABAD, India -- In a bid to avert a mass exodus from India's quake-ravaged state of Gujarat, officials have said that homeless villagers will be offered food in exchange for aiding the reconstruction effort.

In the meantime authorities are planning to construct tent cities to accommodate hundreds of thousands of survivors left homeless by the quake.

If this does not happen soon, villagers will flee the region, said Gujarat state official P.K. Lahiri.

VIDEO CNN's Kasra Naji has more on the relief efforts in India (February 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    ALSO IN-DEPTH: India's devastating quake EYEWITNESS: The land of the dead

"After one more round of free grain distribution, there will be a food-for-work program," he said. "For now, the people are dazed since their trauma was so enormous."

International aid agencies, who have been working with authorities to help the homeless, say that without adequate housing, neighboring states could be swamped by a tide of homeless migrants, spreading the economic burden caused by the quake outside of the immediate disaster zone.

Towns in western India were completely flattened by the quake

The 7.9-quake that struck on January 26 killed more than 17,000 people, with the toll expected to rise to 30,000, said Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya.

In the worst affected areas of Bhuj, Anjar and Bhachau, tens of thousands of people are being fed in makeshift tent homes after the quake flattened most of the towns.

But in the hinterland, thousands are still waiting for shelter, food, clothes and medical relief 11 days after the quake struck.

Longterm needs

Lahiri said the government will provide Gujarat with 100,000 tons of wheat -- which will be sold to villagers at a price at least a quarter of the normal price in rural markets -- if they take part in the food-for-work program.

"Right now it's free food. In the next stage, as we try to provide short and midterm solutions, it will be heavily subsidized food," Lahiri said.

Aid agencies are assessing how long they will need to stay to provide the long-term housing and food aid quake survivors need.

The Red Cross says it expects the relief part of the recovery in Gujarat to last three months and that it would be in the state for at least a year.

A U.N. official in charge of coordinating relief said on Tuesday at least a million people are likely to need aid following the earthquake.

Ted Pearn, head of the United Nations team coordinating the earthquake relief, said while a lot of aid -- especially blankets and tents -- had reached India, there was still a need for more.

He said that so far there were no signs of outbreaks of disease although the danger remains high.

"There is always a risk unless you do something about it early, and it looks like the government and agencies have been doing that," he said.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

Rescue teams plan to cease work in India quake

See related sites about Asia

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.