Page 165 - SocialHarmony

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Shrines of Hard Work

(At the Dedication Ceremony of Sokhada Village rebuilt
with the support of GNFC. Rajkot, April 20, 2002)

The earthquake on 26th January 2001 had ruined the whole
state. The whole world was worried about our state. Those
who had lost everything were completely at sea about how to
get out of this mess. However, it is a miracle the way Gujarat
has come out of the whole disaster within a year. The world
will never fathom this miracle until they understand the inner
strength of Gujarat. There is a unique strength in the people of
this state, and one needs to have a remarkable thinking to
understand it.

On the morning of the 26th, when the earthquake occurred,
I was in Delhi. I reached Ahmedabad by special plane in the
afternoon, and I was in Kutch the very next day. There were
many rescue teams that had flown in from across the world to
serve and help the earthquake victims. During my tour of
inspection, I asked the foreign volunteers if they had any
difficulty, or if they needed any other help. We started chatting
and they told me that they had been to help victims at many
disaster sites but they had never seen such spirit and
extraordinary strength among the affected people before. They
shared an experience. A high-rise building had collapsed. They
had come to know with the help of dog squads that there were
some people alive under the debris. While they were struggling
to get the survivors out, a youth of around 27-28 years, who
appeared to be a volunteer himself, requested them to