Hundreds more bodies found in quake rubble

Authorities clearing mountains of rubble in western India have recovered 400 decomposed bodies and a heap of gold coins from the debris of homes destroyed by the nation’s worst earthquake in 50 years.

The bodies were found over the weekend throughout the Bhuj-Kutch district, said Anup Kumar Singh, deputy inspector general of police in Bhuj, part of the hardest-hit area, Gujarat state.

Over the past few days, soldiers have been able to dig deeper into the rubble using hand tools and large cranes. The work is less delicate than while they were searching for survivors, and they have more heavy equipment available.

The quicker work could mean a big increase in the confirmed death toll from the quake that struck on January 26, devastating more than 900 villages in the Bhuj-Kutch district.

The Gujarat state government says it has recovered nearly 18,000 bodies - 15,785 from the Bhuj area, Singh said. Unofficial estimates put the death toll at around 30,000.

Soldiers working in Bhuj on Saturday discovered a collection of more than 3,000 rare gold, copper and brass coins from a collapsed house, along with the body of the owner, Press Trust of India quoted army major R C Joshi as saying.

Many other bodies across the area were found adorned with expensive jewellery, Joshi said.

The coins had inscriptions in the Urdu, English and Afghani languages. They will go to the state government, which is expected to keep them in a museum.

Fresh tremors, meanwhile, shook parts of the state early today. No injuries were reported.

More than 260 aftershocks have hit western India since the larger quake, and thousands of people are still spending cold nights in the open because they fear more buildings will collapse.

State officials said nearly 33,000 tents had been distributed among the earthquake victims in the past two weeks. But 120,000 more tents were needed because homeless people may end up spending at least a year in the open.

‘‘Our estimate is that 250,000 families require shelter,’’ said Ted Pearn, leader of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team, who is camping in Bhuj.

Hundreds of people have strung plastic sheets on bamboo poles to protect themselves from the cold.

‘‘The procurement of the tents has been slow,’’ said L Mansingh, the state government’s coordinator for relief. ‘‘The army ordnance factories have decided to double the tent production.’’

The Indian Red Cross and the international relief group Doctors Without Borders have been trying to procure tents from abroad.

At least 15,000 tents were expected in 10 days from a factory in Pakistan, said Jan Gustafsson, a spokesman for Doctors without Borders.

P K Rana, a delegate of the Indian Red Cross, said there was no shortage of medicine and food for quake victims.

Hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes in the quake are receiving aid from a host of government and private agencies, both local and international.