Nepal PM Oli studies quake rehab in Kutch

Nepal Prime Minister O. P. Sharma Oli on Tuesday visited earthquake-hit Kutch and watched development and rehabilitation done by the various government and people of Kutch.

The Prime MInister and the Nepalese team witnessed an audio-visual presentation of how Kutch was put together brick-by-brick from a near-impossible state to the spick and span picture it presents today.

The presentation was by officials of the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) and the Bhuj Area Development Authority (BADA).

"This is my first visit to Bhuj. People here are very open and friendly. We are here to learn about rehabilitation and development of the region in the times of earthquake, since both the regions were victims of the earthquake," Oli said.

Oli's top priority was to know how the relief and rehabilitation of the people, who were left with absolutely no resources and eked out a living under tarpaulin sheets.

The Nepalese Prime Minister was accompanied by his wife Radhika Sakya, Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa, Finance Minister Vishnuprasad Paudel, Home Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet and a host of top bureaucrats.

Here the Prime Minister discussed about the ideal and modern village from the various people living in the village.

As many as 19,000 people - 17,000 in Kutch alone - died, whose intensity was placed at 6.9 on the Richter scale by the Indian Meteorological Department and at 7.7 by the US Geological Survey.

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Some 1, 66,000 people were injured and property worth crores of rupees was destroyed in the quake, which had its epicenter at Chobari in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch district.