Celebrating Resilience 20 Years of Gujrat Earthquake

“I was with my fellow teachers when earthquake came in 2001. While the tremor subsided after sometime and we all were safe but we still can’t forget the feeling of experiencing it live”.

On 26 January 2001, the campus students and staff had gathered on the roof of the College for flag hoisting program. At that moment, we suddenly felt the earthquake tremor and our feet started vibrating. When I looked around, I felt as if all the buildings were swinging. We all rushed down quickly and experienced an atmosphere of fear! .

We were completely unaware of what had happened! Gradually after things settled, we came to know that there has been an earthquake in Bhuj and its impact was seen all over Gujarat. With less preparedness measures, we were unaware of our do’s and don’ts! I was worried about my family and children. That atmosphere of fear I can never forget.

“I was in Patanka when the earthquake came and was preparing for republic day celebration at my school. Before we could think of anything, the ground was strongly shaking making most of us fall. We later realised the damaged it ultimately caused making all the katcha houses collapse and damaging concrete buildings. We had never seen any such a disaster in our entire lifetime”.

“We were getting ready to hoist the national flag to celebrate Republic Day that day. There was no house left standing everything was shattered because of the tremor. People were so scared that they kept running in panic. The incident did cause a great deal of mental trauma to all of us. It kept going on for a while – even the aftershocks kept coming one after the other”.

“I was in the first grade when earthquake hit 20 years back. It was republic day celebration going on in my school and we children thought may be some big fighter jet crashed on our school building. I still can't forget the disastrous scene I saw around me at that time”.

“The moment earthquake hit, we saw electricity poles and school building falling. The scenario was such that for a moment, we thought there was a terrorist attack. Everybody ran out of the school as fast as they could. I am thankful to SEEDS team who reached out to us post disaster and built earthquake resilient houses. Not only did they build houses for us and the community, but they also trained us and further gave an opportunity to pass our learnings in different other states of the country”.

“People were crying under the rubble and we could not do anything! Gujarat Earthquake was a huge learning. School safety, hospital preparedness and complete reconstruction drive were important learnings that we developed from this experience!”

“After the Gujarat earthquake, shake table experiments were eye opener for local masons, engineers, communities and govt. officials. My main lesson from Gujarat earthquake… try to bring the lab to the fail!”

“We were not prepared from the point of view of a disaster! Decisions were taken very fast to send senior officers from govt. of India to reiki the area and mount an immediate response. Crisis management in such situations plays an important role”.

“2001 Earthquake was the largest earthquake ever experienced by us. Entire Patanka village was under rubble. We were later given jobs by SEEDS too because of which we got the opportunity to travel to different states of the country and train other masons on how to build earthquake resilient houses”.

“On January 26, at around 8:00 am morning we all were all sitting in the house when we felt the shock. We were scared and ran out of the house. Some people were also hurt and were later taken to the hospital. At that time our houses were raw, fragile and we were not very familiar with safe construction. Our house had also collapsed. We were living in a tent for two months. We had nothing as all our belongings were buried under the house. After about a month and a half later, institution SEEDS came and rebuilt many houses including ours as well”.

“We felt the tremors. We knew it was an earthquake- a powerful one. We remember that time every day and can’t believe that we witnessed such a disaster in our lives. We had to sleep outside for 15 days open in that cold. Following the earthquake aftershocks which were felt in the night. All the homes had collapsed. I recall that vision with my blur memory, when an officer came to the village, I saw him walking through the collapsed village. Government and many organisations supported us throughout and we also put our savings to re build a new house. Good or bad, everyone had to kneel before the God in the form of this natural calamity!”

"I was just five years old when the Great Gujarat earthquake hit parts of the state. I still remember, we were all gathered in our school’s assembly area ready for flag hoisting and then suddenly we saw our old school building collapsing in front of our eyes. Some new buildings got cracked too. We were so scared that for about a month we did not even enter our houses fearing that it may collapse over us. As I stand here an speak, I look back and see the kind of change has happened over the years. Our schools, communities, all have started giving the due importance to learning on disasters and how to keep ourselves safe when an incident like that occurs!"

In last 20 years from our experiences in Patanka, I have realized things are destined for a better future. If people can work together with sacrifice, love and charity, it’s the best time to do so, because that’s all the time we have!

Being an earthquake survivor and then stepping into the humanitarian sector for the first time, the mission was to rise the people from the rubble. Engagement with communities was full of experiences and anecdotes!

“The further we are away from the last earthquake, the closer we are to the next one! My learnings from Gujarat reshaped my views and practical wisdom!"

"The tectonic shift that occurred during Bhuj earthquake not only released devastating energy, it unlocked positive human energy that directed us in strengthening risk management in India".

"I have seen #earthquakes destroying lives of people! Reconstruction project in Patanka was a learning curve for me; working with communities & telling them about disaster resilient buildings".