In Mandvi tehsil, even a quake can't keep the people down

A little more than a year after the Earth moved that January 26 morning in Gujarat, memories of pain and despair are still vivid. But there’s also hope for a new life. The villagers of Bidada and Bhojay, in Mandvi tehsil of Kutch district, didn’t wait for the government or the aid workers to deliver them from their terrible fate. They built their lives together, for each other, from the doors and windows to the concrete salvaged from the rubble. The sense of community and satisfaction is palpable here. Fifty-year-old Sonbai’s house in Bhojay once again stands tall—everybody decided to begin the shram yagna with her house, because she was alone, and blind. Bhitara’s Nathu Harijan, a mason, left his job in Bhuj to stay back in his village, to help his brethren meet their target—at least 45 houses in three months—before the monsoons came.

Bhojay and Bidada are no longer desolate blocks of concrete. In fact, the scene is not dissimilar from what existed before the quake. The same doors, windows, timber cross-members and the same traditional designs. The newly-built 200 sq ft houses have enough space, with even a cattle shed made from thin galvanised sheets.

It’s a remarkable turnaround, and the credit goes to the Shri Bhojay Sarvodaya Trust, a charitable organisation run by like-minded people. With an unusual slogan—"Let the man rise, the houses will also rise"—it was only because of the trust’s initiative that the houses got rebuilt in these villages, otherwise ignored by the government (they were classified as "less than 70 per cent destroyed", not on the priority list). "For a man whose house has been destroyed, the loss is 100 per cent," says Liladharbhai Gada, one of the members spearheading the trust and a father-figure to the hundreds of villagers. The trust’s workers have reached places where the government, even months after the quake, could not.

Gada, better known in the nearby villages as adha or father, says the trust rallied the village committees together. Each villager got material worth Rs 8,500 out of a total cost of Rs 11,000 per house and the task of rebuilding the devastated villages was started. Today, the trust boasts of having helped complete 2,200 pucca houses, out of an initial target of 3,000. Incidentally, the Outlook Earthquake Relief Fund, to which readers contributed a generous Rs 24 lakh, also helped in the rebuilding of the homes. "The villagers insisted they wanted to live like a community, and that’s why you see common walls. Their enthusiasm is infectious. Once you have a roof above your head, a lot of other things follow suit—you can then tend the wounded, look after the children and the farming. That’s why we decided on the task of rebuilding first," says Gada.

The trust has also been running a rural medical referral hospital in Bhojay for the last four years, catering to the needs of 178 nearby villages. Luckily, just a day before the quake, the hospital had organised an eye camp and the equipment and other material were still there. The hospital itself was not damaged except for a couple of cracks. Massive relief work was afoot in no time—between January-April 2001, a total of 1,93,705 patients were attended to, including 405 orthopaedic, 94 plastic and 136 general surgeries. The trust is also rebuilding the hospital at Patri village in Mundhra taluka, apart from another hospital to address the needs of women from about 100 nearby villages.

Says Deepak Mepani, project coordinator, "In the days following the quake, our hospitals performed about 600 surgeries. We had to tackle a steady stream of injured people. But we didn’t turn anybody away—we took care of those who needed medical attention, and also provided food and shelter to everybody else. We were fortunate to have the services of doctors from all over the world. Even Dr Ranawat’s (who treated the prime minister’s knee) assistant, Dr Lad, was at our hospital performing operations."

The trust’s work has been commended by many, including even US consul general David Good, who exclaimed after visiting Nani Bhadai, "A house for just $200!" For more information, contact: C.D. Prasad & Co, 105, Shyam Kamal ‘A’ Building, Agrawal Market, Vile Parle (E), Mumbai-400057. Ph: 022-6131140, 6140219