The Bhuj Story - After the Quake

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Bhuj was an epicentre of the terrible earthquake that shook Gujarat on January 26, 2001. Mahendra Singh, and a thousand others like him, were unknown soldiers who made the reconstruction of the city possible. Rishi Sanwal, who was then studying at the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, was another one of the volunteers who helped in this process. The Bhuj Story: After the Quake is his record of the unusual people he met there and the absolutely unique experience they went through together. The book with a tremendous racy style will definitely make a "must have" book on the "do-gooders" of Bhuj.

Born and brought up in the hills of Uttar Pradesh, Rishi Sanwal is interested in varied subjects ranging from social work to operations research. After completing his management studies from Indian Institute of management (IIM), Ahmedabad, he is currently working as a management consultant.

Tring! Tring! The phone rang. Tring! Tring!" ! The phone rang again. Mansingh looked at his phone and paused his address to the IIM Ahmedabad professors. "Delhi", he muttered.

The personal secretary to a very senior national leader was on line, enquiring about the status of a particular village in Kutch district. After a short conversation, Mansingh shut the phone after re-assuring of prompt action.

The Gujarat earthquake of 26 January 2001 was one of the worst earthquakes that the country has ever seen; that too in the wake of two consecutive years of drought in the state. It left 13,805 people including 1031 school children dead and around 167,000 persons injured.

By far the humanitarian response that it generated was also unparalleled. The help, that literally outpoured, came from all over the world, right from international agencies and governments to small private institutions and groups. Expectedly the Gujarat State Government played a critical role in coordinating and leading the relief activities; repairing the infrastructure, channelling the help, setting up policies, and creating the requisite administrative structures. But most importantly, it was "people" who responded in various roles and capacities.

**Contents and Sample Pages**