I spoke to Nair again this morning and he tells me that I heard him wrong about the time frame of the possible Uttaranchal quake. It's true that the line was terrible - it almost always is, but I was convinced I heard him say "within two or three days". This morning - when the line was indeed quite good - he was adamant he had talked of a twenty day time frame. It's extremely frustrating trying to work with him because he's so cut off - the only means of communication being a phone line on which there is often interference. I don't think there's too much I can do about it.

This morning I also talked to Devendra Pal and he reports that there is very strange earth movement occuring in the region. He says the Uttarkashi convulsions can't really be described as landslides which generally occur swiftly and are gone. He says that the last Uttarkashi quake caused massive cracking along the line of the ridge. I'm going to meet him soon to find out more and get it in writing. As a layperson I need to see things written to obtain a grasp.

In case anyone should read this other than Shan, please note that the "landslides" in this Himalayan region are devastating. The town of Uttarkashi is in large part destroyed and most of the population has fled. In the surrounding area villages have been cut off from all communications. One of the guys working for me is from there and he doesn't know the fate of his family. It's very serious indeed and is causing much anguish.

Juliet