KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, western India is on the war footing today, battling to recover from its worst earthquake in half a century. Satinder Bindra has more from us now live from India.</s>SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rescue teams from Britain and Switzerland with sniffer dogs have now left for India. India's defense minister, Mr. George Fernandez (ph), who was visiting the area, says the death toll from this earthquake could be 15,000. In Ahmedabad, where I am, rescue teams are working round the clock. They're using heavy cranes, they're using machinery, some people even using their bare hands to try and pull out survivors from the rubble. But many people are now getting skeptical of their chances. These people have been buried under rubble for some 36 hours now. The worst damage is in a place called Bhuj. Bhuj was the center of this earthquake, which had a magnitude of about 7.9. In Bhuj, according to the defense minister, 90 percent of the buildings have been completely flattened out, more than 3,000 people dead. Even the local hospital has been flattened out. According to one report, 450 school children are still trapped under the debris of what was once their school building. In Ahmedabad, 50 high-rise buildings have been completely flattened out. Tonight people are preferring to stay outdoors. They don't want to stay indoors because they're scared of aftershocks. Funeral pyres are also lighting up the night sky here. Some families have lost two or three members, and people say they'll remember the horror of this earthquake, the worst to hit India in almost 50 years, for many years to come. Reporting live, Satinder Bindra, CNN, Ahmedabad.
India Battles Back From Worst Earthquake in 50 Years