On the cold morning of January 26, 2001, Rajesh Bhatt and his 11-year-old daughter, Prarthana, were asleep at their ancestral home in Bhuj, a town in India's western province of Gujarat. What he witnessed that day would become his worst nightmare.
Indians were preparing to celebrate the country's 52nd Republic Day – a national holiday that traditionally brings families together to watch the grand military parade in the capital New Delhi on television.
Mr Bhatt had also planned to watch the fighter jets fly past and tanks roll down Delhi’s main boulevard, over tea and flatbreads prepared by his wife, Gayatri.
But as the clock struck 8.46am, a 6.9 magnitude tremor devastated the town and altered his life forever.
He compared the impact to pieces colliding in a popular Indian tabletop game.
"My bed felt like a striker on a carrom board. It was shaking, moving from one place to another," Mr Bhatt told The National.
“At that moment I thought it was a bomb blast, until I realised it was an earthquake.
"I told my daughter that this was our end.”
Mr Bhatt grabbed his daughter and jumped from from the second-floor balcony of the collapsing house.
Within moments, Bhuj, a town of about 140,000 residents, was reduced to rubble.
The earthquake killed at least 25,000 people, and 150,000 were injured. Bhuj was at the epicentre and particularly badly affected.
It shook an area within a radius of 400 kilometres and affected some 16 million people.
For days, the air was filled with dust, reducing visibility to less than a kilometre. For weeks, survivors searched for their loved ones for weeks under the rubble, as smoke from hundreds of pyres billowed from every corner of the town.
Traumatised survivors slept for weeks under tarpaulin tents in open ground, without electricity or access to clean water, telecommunications, hospitals, rail or road transport.
In the following months, families lived in relief camps, before slowly rebuilding their lives and their town.
Mr Bhatt, now 57, was at the time of the disaster an affluent businessman who lived with his father, his wife Gayatri and their daughter Prarthana and his two brothers and their families in the three-storey ancestral home.
After his miraculous escape, Mr Bhatt saw his house collapse in a cloud of dust, trapping his wife, father and brothers' families under the debris.
His father, now 82, and other family members were rescued from the debris the same night. But Mr Bhatt's wife remained missing.
"I found my father and brother that night, wedged between the collapsed columns, their faces covered with blood. But I didn't find my wife for a week," he said.
After making repeated desperate trips to the debris where his house once stood, Mr Bhatt finally found his wife’s lifeless body.
“She was covered in dust,” he said. “I still cannot stop thinking about her.”
Mr Bhatt remarried three years after the tragedy.
With years of support from NGOs and government grants, the town has regained life. It now boasts earthquake resistant high-rise apartments, advanced hospitals, spacious supermarkets, industries and businesses. But the memories of the earthquake still haunt its inhabitants.
For photographer Paresh Kapta, now 57, it began as an ordinary day on a housewarming ceremony assignment. But while he took pictures on a hill overlooking Bhuj, he saw the town collapse before his eyes.
"I was taking pictures outside, when the earth moved up and down – like a slithering python. When I turned back and looked at the city, there was only dust touching the sky, no sight of houses, only dust," said Mr Kapta.
He managed to capture a 30-second video of the collapsing town and then for the next twelve hours documented the devastation as he rummaged through the rubble, at times on his two-wheeler, at other times treading carefully on the debris so as to not trample on any survivors.
“Nothing was visible … it was dust everywhere. There was only debris as far as my eyes could see … broken, collapsed houses. One couldn’t know whether they were walking over a body. People were screaming, kids were crying. It was harrowing,” he said.
“Every time there is an earthquake in any part of the world, I stay awake all night. I can’t stop thinking about their pain.
"The memory of that day still haunts me.”
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
RACECARD
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How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
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Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)
Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15
Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)
Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness'
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams
Rating: 3/5
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Specs
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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais
more from Janine di Giovanni
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Fixtures and results:
Wed, Aug 29:
- Malaysia bt Hong Kong by 3 wickets
- Oman bt Nepal by 7 wickets
- UAE bt Singapore by 215 runs
Thu, Aug 30:
- UAE bt Nepal by 78 runs
- Hong Kong bt Singapore by 5 wickets
- Oman bt Malaysia by 2 wickets
Sat, Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong; Oman v Singapore; Malaysia v Nepal
Sun, Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman; Malaysia v UAE; Nepal v Singapore
Tue, Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore; UAE v Oman; Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu, Sep 6: Final
Tell-tale signs of burnout
- loss of confidence and appetite
- irritability and emotional outbursts
- sadness
- persistent physical ailments such as headaches, frequent infections and fatigue
- substance abuse, such as smoking or drinking more
- impaired judgement
- excessive and continuous worrying
- irregular sleep patterns
Tips to help overcome burnout
Acknowledge how you are feeling by listening to your warning signs. Set boundaries and learn to say ‘no’
Do activities that you want to do as well as things you have to do
Undertake at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. It releases an abundance of feel-good hormones
Find your form of relaxation and make time for it each day e.g. soothing music, reading or mindful meditation
Sleep and wake at the same time every day, even if your sleep pattern was disrupted. Without enough sleep condition such as stress, anxiety and depression can thrive.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The five pillars of Islam
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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