I was compiling the ICEVI Newsline on the 24th of January, 2001 and was planning to mail it by the 31st. Little did I realise when I was getting ready to go my Office for saluting the flag on the Indian Republic Day on 26th January that I would never reach there. That buildings shook like leaves in the wind, fell like a pack of cards and that thousands lay dead and injured under heaps of rubble. Ahmedabad, the city that I live in and places in Kutch District of Gujarat were hit by an earthquake that measured 7.9 on the Richter Scale! We are still coming to terms with the fact that life and property can be destroyed in the twinkling of an eye and that families can be wiped out amidst cries of pain and anguish.
I am grateful to God for keeping me and my loved ones alive both at the home and office fronts.
This Newsletter though started in time is quite late for which I am sorry. I am grateful to all the people who wrote, telephoned and enquired about our well-being.
With my prayers and thanks, I present the Second Issue of this Newsline.