Ahmedabad, Jan. 26 -- Dr Gyaneshwar Rao was playing badminton when the ground beneath him convulsed violently. Within minutes, Bhuj laid in ruins. His home was damaged and Rao Hospital, his private facility, suffered severe structural harm. When he rushed there, patients were lying on the road. Not too far away, Bhuj General Hospital, a 281-bed government facility, had collapsed completely, killing an estimated 100 people trapped inside.

The devastation was caused by a powerful earthquake that struck Gujarat's Kutch district around 8.46am on January 26, 2001. The epicentre of the earthquake of magnitude 7.7 was near Chaubari village, north of Bhachau in Kutch, around 250 km west of Ahmedabad.

By 9.30am, survivors began reaching Jubilee ...