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Bhuj air force station damaged in quake: UNI

The Bhuj air force station, a MiG-21 base, has been badly hit by the earthquake leading to loss of life and property while the Nallia and Jamnagar stations suffered minor damage, IAF sources said on Friday.

The sources said it was not yet known how many people had been killed at the Bhuj base in Gujarat, and whether fighter planes had been damaged. While the runway has not been affected, there has been considerable loss, they said.

''There has been no adverse effect on operational preparedness, though,'' the sources said.

The IAF has launched major relief and rescue operations and two aircraft have already landed in Bhuj with medical teams, an IAF spokesman said.

A few aircraft are leaving from Delhi with medical teams, communication equipment and relief supplies, he said, adding that all commands of the IAF were on standy and on high alert.

Planes have been routed to Pune to pick up engineering requirements from there and also pick up medical supplies.

The spokesman said all bases in the sector, including Nallia, Bhuj and Jamnagar, were ready to swing into action once the requirements came in.

Meanwhile, almost all the airports in the western region have suffered some damages in the earthquake but air traffic has not been affected in region which is an international flight path.

Although there have been some structural problems in the building at the airports with cracks developing, air navigation facilities have not suffered, sources said. There are cracks in the building at Bhavnagar but nothing to stop flights from functioning.

The airports are in HT line radio contact with Delhi, the sources said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also directed the Air Traffic Control to clear all relief flights without any interference to Gujarat.

Elsewhere, train services have also come to a standstill between Viramgaum-Gandhidham in Saurashtra and Bhuj in Kutch region following damage to bridges, culverts and railway station buildings and communications breakdown caused by the earthquake.

Rail authorities have mounted safety checks all along the route as girders and pillars of a major bridge between Maliya and Survari were damaged due to the impact of the quake, a Western Railway spokesman said on Friday.

As many as 20 railway station buildings in Saurashtra, including at Rajkot and Kutch division, have suffered damage. The retiring room on the first floor of Rajkot station collapsed, while two rail employees were killed in a house collapse at Chiria in the jurisdiction of Gandhidham station, the spokesman added.

Trains leaving for Viramgaum, Gandhidham and Bhuj on Friday evening will be terminated at Ahmedabad. The services in the affected sections would be resumed only after safety checks were complete. There was total breakdown of communication between Ahmedabad and Gandhidham while Bhuj was cut off, the spokesman said.

Movement of trains between Bombay and Ahmedabad, partially affected for about one to one-and-a-half hours in the morning when operations were stopped after the quake for safety checks, had almost normalised.

Services between Ahmedabad-Rajkot, Bombay-Delhi via Baroda and Ahmedabad-Delhi were normal.

Plane services between Bombay and Ahmedabad and Jamnagar remained unaffected.

UNI

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EXTERNAL LINKS
The RD Killer Quake of Jan 26, 2001: Technical details
All about earthquakes in India and their impact
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Disaster relief set-up in India
Major earthquakes across the world in recent times
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