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'We cannot treat their trauma'

The 70-year-old Jhankuben Meghji is rummmaging through the debris of her collapsed house in Vondh village, around 50 kms from Bhuj.

Her wrinkled face wears no emotion, she is looking for her family members buried under their collapsed house, one of the few pucca houses in the village.

Jhankuben merely stares with a blank look in her eyes, when asked about her family members.

"She had two sons, their wives and five grand children," says her neighbour, 22-year-old Ramesh, who stays in Bombay and has come to his village after the tragedy.

"We can provide people with medical assistance for injuries but these people need trauma therapy to recover from the shock," Dr Hemant Shah, a doctor from a charitable organisation attending to injured in the village, says.

"Look, the earth is shattering," wails 69-year-old Devjibhai Satodia.

The panic-stricken people refuse to go inside their houses and stay in open spaces.

But the district administration says it does not have facilities to help traumatised persons. "Our priority is to save those trapped under the debris and treat the injured," an official said.

PTI

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