This image shows the area around the January 26, 2001, earthquake in western India, the deadliest in the country's history with some 20,000 fatalities. The epicenter of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake was just to the left of the center of the image. The Gulf of Kachchh (or Kutch) is the black area running from the lower left corner towards the center of the image. The city of Bhuj is in the yellow-toned area among the brown hills left of the image center and is the historical capital of the Kachchh region. Bhuj and many other towns and cities nearby were almost completely destroyed by the shaking of the earthquake. These hills reach up to 500 meters (1,500 feet) elevation. The city of Ahmedabad, capital of Gujarat state, is the radar-bright area next to the right side of the image. Several buildings in Ahmedabad were also destroyed by the earthquake. The dark blue areas around the center of the image and extending to the left side are low-lying salt flats called the Rann of Kachchh with the Little Rann just to the right of the image center. The bumpy area north of the Rann (green and yellow colors) is a large area of sand dunes in Pakistan. A branch of the Indus River used to flow through the area on the left side of this image, but it was diverted by a previous large earthquake that struck this area in 1819.This image was acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on February 11, 2000.