JEDDAH, 4 February — The International Islamic Relief Organization yesterday launched a worldwide appeal asking aid agencies to provide urgent assistance to earthquake victims in India.
Dr. Adnan Khalil Basha, IIRO director general, said Muslims who make up 45 percent of the population in the devastated areas were in dire need of food, medicines and shelter.
"We appeal to relief organizations, philanthropists and individuals to provide assistance to the victims who are in bad need of everything from food and shelter to medicines and medical teams to look after the injured and help prevent the outbreak of epidemics," Dr. Basha said in a statement.
Fadil Saifuddin, IIRO director for the Indian Subcontinent, told Arab News that they had so far identified 8,000 Muslim victims in the hard-hit areas of Bhuj and Anjar. They were buried according to Muslim tradition.
He described the situation as desperate and said the acute shortage of water led some survivors to drink their own urine. "Unless bore wells are dug and clean water secured from other sources, we are going to experience a health disaster of an unmatched scale," Saifuddin said by phone from Hyderabad in southern India where he is coordinating IIRO's relief efforts.
Dr. Basha wrote to Islamic relief organizations in the United Kingdom and other countries asking them to assist by sending rice, milk, cooking oil, tents, blankets and medicines as well as doctors.
Saifuddin said he believed the worst was yet to come. "I have never in my life seen such a scale of death and destruction and I don't think I will ever witness similar scenes. Wherever you go there are dead bodies. People have lost everything and are now left destitute. Right now, the main problem is providing clean water for the survivors."
He said at one village he saw an old Muslim man who survived the devastation leading the funeral prayers for his grandchildren.
The strong earthquake -- measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale -- that hit the Indian state of Gujarat on Jan. 26 killed up to 100,000 people and left 500,000 others homeless. But according to Saifuddin, as many as 170,000 people may have died and he expected the figure to be as high as 200,000 saying aftershocks were still being felt throughout the area. "I think the authorities do not want to reveal the high death figure for fear of triggering panic among the population."
Saudi Arabia sent two planeloads of relief supplies ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd. These include food, tents, bed-sheets and blankets.
Saifuddin said they have been working from makeshift tents to provide help to the victims since no building was left standing. The injured were now being brought to tent clinics instead of having to be flown to hospitals outside Bhuj. About 200,000 people were injured in the quake, he said, adding that the health situation could deteriorate further.
