Anshu Gupta

Remains of a house in Ahmedabad after the Gujarat earthquake 2001

In the city of Ahmedabad, which has a population of approximately 7 million as many as 50 multi-storey buildings collapsed and several hundred people were killed. Total property damage was estimated at $7.5 billion*.

It is unbelievable how everything is lost after a disaster, leaving behind only a memory of what it used to be. I think of how all of us get attached to our homes, to everything in it, and yet how fragile the idea of possession can be. Whether you are rich or poor, it doesn’t matter. A disaster does not discriminate and levels the homes of both equally, leading to massive loss of life and property.

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