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Article: Kin step in for quake orphans
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- February 24, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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ANJAR, India Three-year-old Richa clings to her grandmother and
buries her wet face in the woman's weathered neck, rocking and
whimpering for her mother, "Mammi, Mammi."
Richa can't understand that her parents were among more than
19,000 people killed in an earthquake a month ago.
Now, Richa Ramniklal Pithadia lives in a blue tent in Anjar's
sports stadium with her grandmother, who is in her 60s.
"As long as I am alive, I will look after her," says Richa's
grandmother, Parvati Pithadia.
Early estimates put the number of children orphaned by the Jan. 26
quake at up to 8,000. So far, state officials have counted only 350