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Indian Earthquake Death Toll May Cross 17,000
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The death toll from India's earthquake may have already crossed 17,000, commented Gujarat state Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.
Speaking to reporters, Patel said that about 8,000 people have died in Kutch district alone and that another 8,000 are trapped under debris.
Further hampering the rescue efforts, at least 188 aftershocks, 15 of which were above magnitude five on the Richter scale, were recorded by the seismology department at Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) since 9:00 am Saturday, almost 24 hours after Friday's initial earthquake.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi said that there are over 13,000 feared dead in the Kutch region and that the toll might eventually climb to 17,000 over the rest of the state.
Bhuj, the largest town in Kutch district (pop.150,000) was entirely razed to ground. The District Collector's office, Army and Air force installations, and most hospitals suffered extensive damage. Two hundred hospital patients died as one entire floor collapsed on them.
Authorities fear even worse damage and casualties in the nearby town of Anjar (pop.30,000).
"In Anjar, you can't find a single house intact," Modi said.
Police said that around 350 school children and 50 teachers out for a drill were buried when the small alley in which they were marching hurled collapsed around them. So far, 50 have been pulled out alive.
The earthquake, measured by the the U.S. Geological Survey at 7.9 on the Richter scale, felled buildings across the prosperous agricultural and industrial state of Gujarat, from Ahmedabad, in the hinterland, to Bhuj, in the coastal marshlands.
If confirmed, the death toll might be more catastrophic than the August 1999 quake in Turkey, in which more than 17,000 people were killed.
Offers of aid have come from around the world including the U.N. and U.S. Pakistan also offered help, and General Pervez Musharraf set aside differences over Kashmir to send a message a sympathy to Vajpayee.
"The government and people of Pakistan share the grief of the bereaved families," he said.
At least 15 have been killed, and another 108 injured, in Pakistan's Sindh province, which borders the Indian state of Gujarat.
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