Now, after more than 450 bodies have been found and disposed of, many fishing boats, most of them from Valsad district in south Gujarat and the Union territory of Daman and Diu, are still missing. In all probability, another more than 200 fishermen have died.

This is almost a repeat of last year's cyclone tragedy here, when hundreds of poor salt workers had died. They died working in the salt pans around Kandla because no one bothered to forewarn them about the storm. This time, no one again warned the poor fishermen, who had sailed out long before the cyclone, unaware of the threat. Says Premji Khokhri, a leader of fishermen at Porbandar: ``Thegovernment could have requested the Coast Guard or Air Force to use their helicopters to alert them.''

While many fishermen died on the sea, others managed to swim to numerous small islands. But as their boats were smashed, they were left stranded. The government, however, took its own time to launch rescue operations. ``It was only when fishing associations raised a hue and cry about missing boats and survivors' tales of bodies floating in mid-sea that the government actually swung into action,'' says Jumabhai, a fishermen from Naliya.

Amarkumar Malik, one of the survivors, said many of the victims were from Umarsali and Valsad. ``I know they are hardy swimmers who can remain afloat for 15 to 20 hours. Timely action could have saved them,'' he insists.

Fisheries Commissioner N.A. Vora, however, blamed the weather, saying it did not allow the government to launch search operations in the crucial first two days.

So did Industry Minister Suresh Mehta, who supervised relief and rescue work. ``We launchedsearch operations with the help of the Air Force and Coast Guard as soon as the weather permitted. I don't exactly remember the date, but the day we conducted a search, we picked up some stranded fishermen who otherwise would have died,'' he says. ``It is unfair to say that the state government reacted late.''

But the fact is that while the weather cleared on May 22, an aerial survey began only on May 24. Even at this late stage, the rescue efforts were more of a body-collection operation. Some people were indeed rescued, as Mehta claims, but little effort was made to locate many more who were actually awaiting rescue in creeks and islands. Says Arvind Tandel, a member of the Jakhau Fishing association: ``At the time the government was claiming that timely evacuation of people from the coastline had saved lives, hundreds were actually dying of starvation or were drifting in the sea.''

In fact, the state government never gave the impression that it was prepared to deal with the tragedy. Initially, it didnot even know how many boats and men were missing and what required to be done. It was only after about a week that it actually came out with some details. Belatedly, it also sent a team of officers to Pakistan to locate fishermen who could have been carried away by the current. It is arranging to pay Rs 1 lakh to dependents of the missing fishermen although, according to Mehta, the law says that a person can be declared dead only if he is missing for seven years.

Officials blame the tragedy on fishermen themselves and the absence of any authority to control their activities. ``Sometimes they leave port without informing or taking creek passes. Many don't register themselves for fear that their boats will be certified unseaworthy. And sometimes they simply ignore warnings,'' a Fisheries Department official points out.

While this may be true to an extent, the excuses are reminiscent of the government's ludicrous explanation for its failure to come out with the number of salt workers who died in last year'scyclone. It was then said that the salt manufacturers hired contract labour and, therefore, kept no record, while the contractors were untraceable!

Fishermen leaders, like Khokhri, assert that many lives could have been saved had the government coordinated their efforts with fishermen's associations and acted on the information given by survivors. Amaalbhai, one of the survivors, says that when Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel visited the district, ``we were hoping that he would come to Jakhau port (the most important fishing port) and we would tell him that bodies were rotting in the creeks and on islands, that there were no rescue operations and that fishermen were sending their own boats to bring ashore stranded fishermen''. But the Chief Minister only held meetings with officials, he laments.

An officer admits that the handling of the tragedy was marked by ``utter callousness'' on the administration's part. In fact, certain ministers showed more sympathy. For instance, when Forest Minister KanjibhaiPatel was on an aerial survey, he spotted two fishermen waving from a small island. Patel insisted that the helicopter land there and pick them up although it was very close to the Line of Control and the pilot was reluctant to take the risk. ``That is when I realised that we were not approaching this with a human touch. Probably, bureaucrats have become hardened,'' the officer says.

Besides fishermen, the other victims of the cyclone have been the `maldharis', the traditional cattle-rearers of Kutch, who lost thousands of animals. For days, the entire coastal belt reeked with an unbearable stench as the work of burial of rotting carcasses went on at snail's pace. Even the survey for giving compensation began when the villagers, unable to bear the stench, started burying the carcasses. ``When the inspectors came, many had no proof that their cattle had died,'' notes Vajubhai Lalabhai of Mothala village.

The large-scale death of cattle has dealt a blow to the pastoral economy of Abdasa and nearby areas.The region supplied milk and milk products far and wide. ``Now, we will have to import milk even for local consumption,'' rues Ibrahim Mundra, Abdasa MLA.