ANJAR, 

July 21, 1956

 

The 1956 Anjar earthquake occurred at 15:32 on 21 July, which caused maximum damage in town of Anjar in Kutch. It had an estimated magnitude Mw 6.1.The town of Anjar and the Taluka of Anjar were the most affected region with 2000 houses damaged, of which half of them were in Anjar town alone. The other towns affected were Bhuj, Kirai, Bhachau, Gandhidham and port town of Kandla. At least 115 people were reported to have died and casualties numbered to 254 as per government records. Anjar, which is a historic town and very congested in the old parts was largely destroyed  It was estimated that more than 3,000 houses in 25 villages developed huge cracks, losses ran up to Rs 10 million. Such devastation wreaked by the quake made it one of the worst calamity to hit Kutch in the past 100 years. More than 8,000 people migrated from the district a few days after the quake. The earthquake was followed by heavy rains, which added to the misery of thousands living in temporary camps. 

 

 

 

BHUJ

January 26,  2001

 

The tremor on January 26th, 2001 started at 8.46 am. The initial displacement of the ground was felt in a northerly direction with a sound resembling to that of heavy furniture being pulled over a rough surface. The tremor was felt physically for about a 100 seconds and recorded by Digital Broadband Seismograph of India Meteorological Department for about 500 seconds. During the 100 seconds period the intensity of the tremor and the accompanying rumbling noise gradually diminished and suddenly increased at least three times. More jerks were felt in a N-S direction than in a E-W direction. The plinth of the nearest building was observed to be oscillating through a distance of about 20 cm. This is evident from the fact that almost all items in cupboards along the E-W wall fell down while those in cupboards along the N-S wall were found less affected. 

 

A deathly silence was felt just after the tremor stopped. Dust rose in the atmosphere reducing the visibility to less than 1 km. All the lanes in the central part of Bhuj were full of rubble and debris at an average one metre high. There was no access to houses in that area except to climb and walk over the debris. The complete infrastructure of the region like electric power, water supply, medical facility, telecommunication, rail and road transport, etc. was disrupted. The earth felt as if it was floating for the next few days. Landing and take off sounds of the aeroplanes from the airport 8 km away severely echoed through the entire Bhuj town for the next one month. 

 

The people of the region suffered various difficulties. The first two nights were horrible. Complete darkness, cold weather and frequent tremors did not allow the people to sleep. There was no water supply for the next four days. The suffering of thosewho lost their shelters is indescribable. Because of wide spread damage and disruption of rail and road links, it took a considerable time for relief to reach the region.