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From The Editor In Chief
Death
by earthquake must be one of the worst ways to die. There you are, taking
your morning cup of tea and suddenly, the whole world literally collapses
on you in a few, short seconds. At least with cyclones, floods and fire
there is some warning. But with all our advances in science we still can't
predict an earthquake-for which Gujarat paid a heavy price.
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| Our
covers on Orissa and Latur disasters |
As the chilling
news and the horrific force of the quake were flashed on TV, the Internet
and print, we kept apace. Staffers of our Ahmedabad bureau, Special Correspondent
Uday Mahurkar and Photographer Shailesh Raval, waited just long enough
to ensure their families and homes were all right before dashing off to
record the unfolding tragedy. Quickly, we pressed more people into the
job. But since it was a Friday, and we had already closed the edition,
we couldn't carry the story in our previous issue; INDIA TODAY's regional
editions, which close two days later, had the quake as the cover story.
As news
of the earthquake eclipsed all else, we decided to print a special issue
on the quake and its aftermath this week. We practically created a headquarters
in Ahmedabad, flying in Deputy Editor Swapan Dasgupta, Senior Editor S.
Prasannarajan, Associate Editor V. Shankar Aiyar, Principal Correspondent
Sayantan Chakravarty and Photographers Pramod Pushkarna, Hemant Chawla
and Bandeep Singh, who criss-crossed the state. Alongside, a team in Delhi
looked into every aspect of the tragedy, from the horror and heroic rescue
efforts to the painful tardiness of the administration that prevented
quick rescue and relief. Incredibly, the Crisis Management Group at the
Centre met five and a half hours after the tragedy, surely a reason why
many more lives could not be saved. In Gujarat, the Government disappeared.
There still isn't a credible estimate of the dead.
Our special
issue also looks at other details: how will the economy be affected? How
can buildings be better designed and building rules enforced? Will it
take more deaths for the government to learn a lesson in crisis management?
A tragedy like this brings out the worst and the best in people: it showed
the administration's callousness to public need, even as the people of
India opened their hearts and purses to help the hapless victims.
(Aroon
Purie)
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