Death toll rises as the extent of the devastation becomes clearer

The death toll in the Indian earthquake rose to around 20,000 yesterday.

Officials fear another 30,000 people are still trapped under rubble in the worst-affected western state of Gujarat. Around 6,000 bodies have been recovered, but federal and state officials said the death count might be three times that number.

Congested towns and villages in the region have been flattened and thousands lie buried. Relief and rescue operations are yet to begin in earnest when they could have some impact. Thousands have also fled the district, carrying the injured with them.

The authorities are unable to cope with the magnitude of the tragedy, the disarray of the district administrations and a complete breakdown of communications with the outside.

"But there is unanimity in one thing - nobody has seen such havoc before," said Mr Bakali Abdul, an electrician in the worst-affected city of Bhuj, 600 miles west of New Delhi, and close to the epicentre of Friday's earthquake which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale.

Desperate relatives continued to tear at the brick and concrete with bare hands and dug with makeshift implements looking for their loved ones in Bhuj. But by yesterday army and paramilitary personnel leading the rescue operations said they were only looking for the dead in order to cremate them to prevent the spread of disease.

People across the region said relief was slow, as a handful of bulldozers worked to clear the rubble in Bhuj, their operators overwhelmed by the scale of their task.

"Officials have made token visits, no more," said Jamir, a local volunteer at a medical camp. Many district officials were busy preparing for the visit of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behrai Vijapyee, to the disaster area.

The entire 450-year-old walled city of Bhuj, spread across five square miles, has disappeared under rubble, taking with it many of its residents. "I mourn the loss of my city more than the relatives who died in the disaster," Mr Tushar Maheshwari, a local journalist said. An era of history had vanished overnight and could not be replaced, he added.

Hundreds of seriously injured people lay along dusty streets under tents, many holding bottles of intravenous fluids, as they coped with pain from fractures and even severed limbs.

"We are short of medical supplies like antibiotics, and relief has yet to reach the worst-affected interior region," Dr Mahendra Goswami said.

Nearly the entire population of Kutch, around 500,000 people, is sleeping in the open, with night temperatures of five degrees. Many have no homes left and others fear another earthquake.

The most heart-wrenching tale in this desert of devastation and chaos was the burying alive of nearly 400 children and 50 of their teachers in Anjar, a small town close to Bhuj. As the children were preparing for India's Republic Day, their school collapsed.

Guided by the victims' screams, locals laboured all night to extricate them from the rubble with crude shovels and bare hands, only to abandon hope when the shouts became feebler and then stopped.

Reuters adds: Police in Gujarat launched a hunt for 40 to 50 "hardcore terrorists" who escaped from prison after the earthquake, the state's home minister said yesterday. Around 188 convicts escaped in Bhuj after a prison wall collapsed.