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A survivor's tale

Josy Joseph in Ahmedabad

When the earth began to shake on January 26, Kaushik Patel, 16, a class XI student, raced ahead of his dear friend Hiran Patel from their school, Swaminarayan Vidya Mandir in Maninagar area of Ahmedabad. He had just stepped out, when the building collapsed killing at least 40, including Hiran.

For the first time since the tragedy, with a smile to hide his fears, Kaushik recollected the Republic Day's morning.

"On Republic Day we were called for physics practical revision at 7.30 am by our physics teacher Nathubhai S Panchal. Today (January 29) was supposed to be our exam. Our class has about 15 girls and 45 boys, and in our Gujarati medium school we have only one XI class division.

I remember, on January 26, 60 of us reported to class, three did not come. Nelson had fever, and two others - Ilesh Patel and Anuj Patel - had gone to attend some marriage.

Our class started at about 7.40 am with a lecture by our sir, in the classroom. It lasted for about 15 minutes, and then we moved to the physics laboratory. Each one was given a separate experiment since it was our final revision. I was doing Vernier Calipers.

Later, five of us, all boys, went to the chemistry lab to help out our teacher, Krutika Madam. She wanted us to help her in numbering tables etc for the exam. They were Yatin Patel, Sunil Goel, Ankit Saha, Hiran Patel and myself. In fact, except Hiran all of us survived.

The earth began to shake when we were standing in the chemistry lab. Madam was giving instruction to do this and that. Then it began to shake. I thought some big machine was passing on the road to the Cadilla factory, which is in front of our school.

When it began to shake badly, we all began to run. Yatin, Sunil and Ankit were ahead of me, and I was followed by Hiran.

I began shouting, "Earthquake, earthquake!"

When we were running down from the fourth floor, there were four girls ahead of us. They were Swati, Hetal, Kruti and one more person.

As soon as I stepped out of the building, I heard a massive noise, something like a bomb blast. And it was all smoke. I could hardly see anything. But I knew, Hiran had not managed to get out.

I ran into Cadilla factory complex, where the security guard was blowing his whistle. After the school collapsed he was calling up everyone, police, RAF etc.

After sometime, when I turned back, I could hear those trapped inside shouting. They were all crying for help, but we could hardly see any of them.

Later we went to the back of the school, where some people staying in a nearby society also came to help us. We managed to pull out Panchal sir. His little daughter who had come to the school with him, was safe in his hands.

Also, we pulled out our classmates Kiran Pandey, Pinal, Kalpan Khamar, Umesh and Swapan Bhatt. Our ma'am was also pulled out, but she died later.

After that I called up my papa. And told him that our school has collapsed. It was God's grace that I survived. I reached home at about 10.30 am. Then I began to cry and cry. I was really frightened. I tried a lot to hold back my tears, but I could not.

Hiran was my dear friend, I wanted to save him at least, but he was nowhere to be seen in rubble. I am not going to his home because his mother keeps on crying, I just cannot stand that.

No one from the school authorities, including the owner, the principal or teachers came to meet me or anyone else after we escaped. I called up one teacher, I was told that he has gone back to his village. When I went to the principal, I was told that he too has gone to his village.

I will not go back to that school. I want to go to another school, but not to a four-storeyed building.

You know, this was my first year in this school. And in this new building, which was constructed in just two months."

The Complete Coverage

OTHER SITES WITH INFORMATION
ON THE GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE:
panjokutch.com
kutchinfo.com
ahmedabad.com

EXTERNAL LINKS
The RD Killer Quake of Jan 26, 2001: Technical details
All about earthquakes in India and their impact
India Meteorological Department's earthquake reports
Disaster relief set-up in India
Major earthquakes across the world in recent times
A post-quake volunteer's unusual tryst with the departed
Earthquake News: Web site offering comprehensive news, information and features
Earthquake site map
USGS: Earthquake Hazards Program

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