WORLD FEDERATION DELEGATION VISIT TO 
GUJARAT & KUTCH 
9TH - 17TH FEBRUARY 2001

A delegation of the World Federation led by Ahmed Hassam, Vice-President; Ahmed Daya, Treasurer; Ghulubhai Bhurani, President of Council of Gujarat; Aunali Salehmohamed, Executive Counsellor; Mohamedbhai Dhirani, Chairman of the Africa Federation and others, visited the devastated earthquake areas. They saw the extensive damage as has been reported earlier in Maliya, Nagalpur and Bhuj and the serious damage in Mundra and Kera. Most of our communities have lost both their homes and personal belongings. In all these places Mosques and Imambaras have either been extensively damaged or have suffered structural damage.

Centre of Maliya	Camp at Maliya

The delegation visited the camps in Maliya, Nagalpur, Bhuj and Kera where people have now taken shelter. They reviewed the emergency relief supplies that have been provided so far and acknowledged the efforts of all concerned in doing all that was humanly possible in the immediate wake of the earthquake. The delegation were advised that the re-building and resettlement process would take a long time because:-

1. Both the clearing operation and the compensation from the Government for loss of property and belongings is going to take a long time.

2. In some areas especially Bhuj, planning permission to rebuild will only follow after the authorities have prepared a master plan for rebuilding of the city.

The World Federation had envisaged the resettlement of our community in affected areas to be a three phase process. The first phase of emergency relief is now over. Camps are providing temporary shelters and supplies of basic amenities and food is adequate. 

The implementation of the second phase is very important, as it is going to take a long time for the permanent resettlements. The facilities at the camps are very basic and because families are living in separate camps, the family unit will break down. There is no provision of education for children as there are no schools and adults are concerned about their future business and job prospects. Therefore, it is important that a temporary resettlement of people to areas where there are adequate accommodation and infrastructure be encouraged. At the same time, where necessary temporary prefabricated dwellings may need be erected where people would prefer to stay in the same vicinity.

Mosque at Nagarpur	Extensive damage of Nagarpur Mosque

Talking to the leaders of the communities, it was apparent that some form of income support for 6 to 12 months would assist in this temporary resettlement. Based on this feedback, the World Federation undertook to offer every family an income support of between 4,000 to 6,000 Rupees per month, depending on the number of heads in the family. This scheme has been received well and in fact, the communities of Maliya (14 families), and Bhuj (71 families) have taken up this offer so far.
 
The World Federation delegation also attended a meeting in Kera on 14th February, together with the Federation of Kutch, Kutch Jamaat leaders , Council of Gujarat, Africa Federation and representatives of the Sajjadiyya Trust and Al Iman Trust. It was agreed at that meeting that there was a commitment to resettle our community members affected by the earthquake and all the agencies agreed to work together based on a master plan of resettlement. This plan would take into account the needs of the communities and ensure that the rebuild would withstand any future calamity, if it were to occur, as this part of India is known to be prone to earthquakes.

Bhuj Imambara & Mosque complex	Extensive damage of Mehfil in Bhuj

It was agreed at this meeting that Muhsin Dharamsi from the World Federation, who is a Civil Engineer as well as an experienced Community worker with a special interest in infrastructure development, will be accompanied by one or two Structural Engineers/Architects from India will visit all the affected areas in the next 2 weeks to assess the needs of mumineen in the affected areas to enable the drawing up of a joint master plan for reconstruction and resettlement.

Bhuj Imambara & Mosque complex	Madaresa-e-Husaini at Mundra

We as a community at large are faced with an enormous task of assisting in this rebuilding and resettlement programme. So far there has been tremendous co-operation from everyone, be it the regional Federations, individual Jamaats, other charitable agencies and individual members of our community. Working in such co-operation, Inshallah, we will meet the challenge placed on our community.