Six days after a colossal earthquake ripped through the Indian state of Gujarat, Mary McCollum witnessed the aftermath.

There is an air of stunned normality in the town of Bhuj. Our jeep churns up a trail of dust as we wend through the busy streets, where it seems that life and commerce are already returning, with long-haired pigs and cattle wandering among the people and traffic.

Yet on closer inspection, peering through the grimy windows of the vehicle, the expected sights of the main town at the epicentre of this earthquake emerge. Houses that appear normal from one side slide into piles of rubble on the other. Often the outside of a building remains intact while the entire interior has been rendered dust.

At 8am on Friday 26 January, the people of Gujarat were waking up, expecting to celebrate the biggest national holiday in the Indian calendar – Republic Day. Instead, in a matter of 45 seconds, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale completely devastated this affluent part of India. We learn later that 95% of the town is going to have to be rebuilt. The people have erected shelters where their homes used to be, scavenging beds, tables, blankets from the wreckage.

One of DFID’s major partners on the ground is the Red Cross, who set up a 350-bed field hospital in Bhuj with smaller 20-bed units to follow in the remote areas that were so difficult to reach. Outside the Bhuj hospital, there is a massive queue of men, women and children waiting for food and blankets: the first sign of the efforts to support survivors.

A flight over the area from the salt-flats of the Gulf of Kutch to the small villages in the surrounding countryside tells of the extent of the damage. The town of Bacchau and many of the villages have been demolished – there is very little sign of life. The death toll could be more than 50,000 and around 400,000 people have been left with nothing.

As we arrived in the DFID camp, the exhausted UK Search and Rescue team – saucer-eyed from lack of sleep – were making their final arrangements before setting off on the 10-hour drive to Ahmedabad to catch a flight home. Set up in a car part with a scattering of tents, crates of water bottles and emergency rations, this makeshift camp has been home for the past five days to 67 men and two women from the UK including Fire Services, International Rescue Corp and Rapid UK who volunteered for the rescue mission, led by the Indian police.

Together with the UK-funded Russian rescue effort, Emercom, they rescued 25 people – a high success rate for a disaster of this kind.

Through meetings with the Red Cross, Indian authorities and the non-government organisations, the DFID team build up a picture of the extent of the disaster, the number of people affected and the best way forward. And as we arrived, the announcement came that DFID was increasing its financial commitment to £10 million.

With the rescue efforts winding down, the emphasis moves to getting help to the thousands of people who have lost their homes, their livelihoods and members of their families. Supplies of safe water and electricity must be restored, and communications, transport and health facilities re-established. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), together with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) have recruited 107 national UN volunteers who will mobilise an army of 5,000 volunteers from youth organisations to reach the vast network of towns and villages in the Kutch district and help start the process of rebuilding.

Image: Victim of Gujarat earthquake © Bryan Evans/Panos Pictures

Image: Earthquake damage, Gujarat © IFRC