Three members of the United Nations Disaster and Coordination Team (UNDAC) together with a WHO health specialist have travelled to most areas around Bhuj to assess the situation and the needs of the affected areas. According to their assessment, the situation is slowly beginning to stabilise and food and medical supplies are now reaching even the farthest villages visited by them. Now situated in the premises of the District Collectorate, UNDAC is working closely to support the work of the government and provides feedback to them. They are coordinating with other UN agencies, international teams, search and rescue teams and with NGOs and have created a forum for information sharing and working which would continue to function in the long term.

The State and District authorities have welcomed the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to undertake disease surveillance in the affected areas which would provide early warning and prevent any epidemics. A 12 member medical team including three disaster management specialists have been deployed in Bhuj and Ahmedabad. This includes earthquake and health specialist, Dr. Luis Jorge Petez, Regional Advisor, Emergency Health Preparedness, from the American Regional office of WHO, and the Regional Advisor, Emergency Health Action, from the WHO South-East Asia Region. The rapid surveillance teams will carry out the surveillance under WHO guidance. They will also include rapid response teams to deal with disease outbreaks and potential epidemics in conjunction with the government. Twenty five vehicles are also being provided for this task.

WHO is providing public health advice and coordination to the government and the NGOs for the post-disaster period. It will also provide technical assistance and support to the government in the process of re-establishing health infrastructure and health services in the earthquake affected areas, including support for re-establishing laboratory services. It plans to support NGOs working in the field of health to enable restoration of health services. As one of the biggest health concerns of the authorities at this stage is to ensure the provision of safe drinking water, WHO would support this by procuring sufficient water testing kits for testing water in the affected areas.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has undertaken a rapid assessment of the affected areas. Based on population estimates, UNICEF estimates that approximately 1.6 million children have been affected by the earthquake. It has confirmed the Agency's interest in rehabilitation of basic health with WHO, continuation of immunization coverage particularly for measles and the provision of Vitamin A and iron tablets for women and girls. In education, UNICEF plans to create child-friendly spaces for resumption of schooling, together with trauma counselling of teachers and children. In the area of water, UNICEF, which has been working with the government through the drought, is now supplying water by tankers and will support measures for water management conservation, replenishment and basic sanitation, together with WHO.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is accelerating its initiatives for women's empowerment in partnership with two leading women's NGOs of Gujarat, the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in Banaskantha and Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangthan in Kutch, which are in the forefront of relief operations in the earthquake affected areas of Gujarat. UNDP is providing immediate financial resources to these NGOs for stepping up relief operations. UNDP funds will be used primarily for housing materials and survival kits for families. UNDP is also supporting specialist national UN Volunteers (UNVs) to assist in relief coordination at the grassroots.

The World Food Programme (WFP) Team now in Bhuj has accompanied two special planes bringing supplies on behalf of OCHA (UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs), WHO and the Italian government. A third plane is due in the next day or so. A team of WFP specialists is arriving to assess the food needs in the post-earthquake period.