The Black day of Gujarat

Dwarak

On this day in 2001, sirens wailed and traffic came to a standstill and people observed two minute-silence a total of 184 students, 18 teachers and two police constables were killed at the chowk when the quake rocked Gujarat claiming over 18,000 lives, rendering lakhs homeless and flattening several towns.

The massive earthquake killed between 14 000 and 20 000 people, damaged over 1.2 million houses, and affected almost 8000 villages in Gujarat, west India. More than 3000 health facilities were destroyed, including a 281 bed district hospital, a 16 bed mental hospital at Bhuj, and 239 health centres.as the clock struck 8.46 am, the time when the killer quake struck.