India today issued an appeal for international funds to rebuild after Friday's earthquake which is thought to have killed more than 20,000 people, while powerful aftershocks add to the fears of survivors.
Star News quoted Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, as saying that 20,000 people may have died in Friday's quake, which convulsed the western state of Gujarat.
Fears were also rising for the fate of residents in remote villages, some as yet unreached by rescue workers. Soldiers arriving in some of these villages for the first time today reported scenes of total destruction.
Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said India would be asking the World Bank for 1 billion in assistance and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 500 million and said the earthquake would have an impact on the economy.
The earthquake, measured 7.9 on the Richter scale by the US Geological Survey, wreaked destruction across the prosperous industrialised state of Gujarat.
Powerful aftershocks today added to the fear and anguish of tens of thousands of hungry and exhausted survivors camping out in the open.
Seismology expert G.J.Nair from Bombay's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre said one of the 250 tremors had recorded about six on the Richter scale.
Though rescue teams from India and abroad rushed to the region in a race against time to pull out those still alive, most of those retrieved from the rubble were already dead.
The International Red Cross is coordinating rescue teams, sniffer dogs and relief funds from Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy, the United Nations and Turkey were set to arrive in India on the weekend. Ireland has set aside £1 million for the relief fund, £250,000 of which will be made immediately available.
Special trains from India's main cities ferried anxious relatives to Gujarat.
Neighbouring Pakistan, putting aside its differences with nuclear rival India, said it would provide relief. The quake killed at lest 15 people in Pakistan.
There is a severe shortage of food, water and fuel, virtually no electricity and very little transport.
Officials warned of a serious risk of epidemic if trapped bodies were not removed quickly.
Reuters