In Ahmedabad, people reach out to their brothers

In Ahmedabad, people reach out to their brothers
SHEFALI NAUTIYAL

AHMEDABAD, JAN 27: While the Government machinery took its own time to react to Friday morning's disaster, it was the efforts of hundreds of nameless men and women which gave some hope to the victims. Many volunteers, many of them college students, rushed out of their homes and helped the injured and their families. Blood donators, RSS workers, activists of voluntary organisations, doctors, teachers, people from almost all sections got busy extending whatever help they could.

Volunteers helped RAF, while police diverted unnecessary traffic outside V S Hospital. Inside, doctors, nurses and attendants formed groups to ensure that victims got immediate attention and were shifted to wards without delay.

Sureshbhai and Nanubhai, chaiwallas near the hospital, helped in carrying bodies to the morgue. ``I had never so many bodies coming in to the hospital, ever. I realised I have to do something. We volunteered to carry the dead bodies because this is all I could do,'' said Sureshbhai.

Volunteers guided relatives and friends of the injured. They helped in shifting patients whose injuries were not so serious to the hospital lawns so others could get treatment. Dinkarbhai Parmar, who had suffered a fracture in the leg and was shifted from the orthopedic ward, said, ``There are so many people who need more attention than me.''

As many as 300 blood donors gathered at the hospital within an hour of the disaster. They waited patiently for their turn to give blood. Many stayed back and helped with other hospital work.

RSS workers rushed to many of the affected areas immediately, cordoned off the crashed buildings, helped in clearing the debris and served water. In Vastrapur area, they climbed nine floors of the damaged Manasi complex, parts of which had collapsed, rescued 16 people and rushed them to hospitals. At Vejalpur's Shikhar building, RSS workers arranged a private crane to clear the debris, besides helping the injured.

At Chimanbhai bridge on the Sabarmati, which had developed cracks, volunteers managed traffic. ``We thought that if the bridge collapsed, it will add to the problems. So we decided to handle the traffic until the police arrived,'' said Amin Shaikh.

In fact, near most of the crashed buildings, citizens took it upon themselves to regulate traffic to ensure that ambulances and other relief vehicles could come and go without any hindrance from the crowds of onlookers.

At many places, arrangements were made for distribution of drinking water. In several localities, women got together and cooked food for neighbours whose houses had collapsed, or were damaged, while children made food packets and distributed these.