NEW DELHI -- The earthquake that devastated many parts of India's western state of Gujarat opened a Pandora's Box, out of which tumbled a shocking spectacle of ignorance and mismanagement driven by greed and callousness.
To begin with, nobody is sure how many people perished in the earthquake and the aftershocks that began Jan. 26, the day India celebrated its military might in New Delhi.
The country's defense minister, George Fernandes, says that 100,000 men, women and children have died, while the official Gujarat government toll is 25,000.