Essay On Gujarat Earthquake

An earthquake happens about 50 times a day. That adds up to about 20,000 earthquakes each year (“11 Facts About Earthquakes”)! Many of these earthquakes are so small that they go unnoticed, but on January 26, 2001, one severe, disastrous earthquake struck the village of Gujarat, India, one of the poorest countries in the world. This earthquake knocked down even some of the toughest buildings that were built to withstand earthquakes. In 2001, the most devastating earthquake to strike Gujarat, India happened on a day of jubilation, caused extensive destruction, and lead to the need of many rescue and relief services to the many towns surrounding it.

To start, the earthquake in Gujarat happened on a day that was meant for rejoicing. In subsequent years, there had been many other major disasters across the country such as multiple earthquakes, floods, and cyclones (Bhattacharjee). The earthquake that struck in Gujarat on

This colossal event flattened even the toughest and equipped buildings. About half a million people were left without homes (Bhattacharjee). Many basic services such as electricity, water supply, and links to communication were down for extensive amounts of time. Many surrounding villages and towns were affected just as bad such as Bhuj, Bhachau, and Anjar because of their close location to the epicenter of the earthquake (Sapru). Even Bangladesh, which is 1,200 miles away, could felt the earthquake (Pararas-Carayannis). Around 20,000 people were killed and 167,000 people injured(Bhattacharjee). In total, the Indian government calculated that the earthquake affected 15.9 million people (Robinson)! Many children were left as orphans, and a number of students had died as they were participating in Republic Day celebrations at their schools (Sapru). To summarize, the earthquake caused major damage to the buildings in Gujarat, but human life as