FAMILIES across East Lancashire were today rallying to help victims of the Indian earthquake which has killed more than 7,000 people.

The earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, rocked the entire Indian subcontinent but the state of Gujarat was worst hit. Mines collapsed, trains were derailed, water pipes broke, and power and telephone lines were out of action.

Today Burnley's first Asian Mayor, Coun Rafique Malik, said the hearts of the entire community went out to the stricken area of India.

Coun Malik, who was born in Pakistan, said there were very few Indian families living in the Burnley area, but he personally had many Blackburn friends with families in Gujarat and he would be contacting them today.

"I cannot remember any major earthquake in that region and this is a terrible tragedy."

Anxious calls to the devastated Gujarat State of India by Rossendale council engineer Navin Patel brought the welcome news that all members of his family are safe and well.

Mr Patel spent last night desperately trying to contact his parents and other family members.

His mother and father and his wife Divea's parents, all from Manchester, are on holiday in the stricken area.

In addition, Mr Patel's 58-year-old sister Pushpa, lives in the town of Baroda, south of Ahmedabad, the region's commercial centre where at least 130 people have died. Mr Patel was unaware of the earthquake, which rocked the entire Indian subcontinent, when the Lancashire Evening Telegraph broke the news to him yesterday.

But today Mrs Patel said: "We managed to get through and everyone is safe and well.

"But it is a terrible disaster and things are very bad."

Mr Patel added: "I have been to the region several times and my wife was there last year."

Manchester-based Mr Patel, 54, who joined Rossendale borough from Colne 25 years ago, added: "This is clearly a major tragedy and a great shock.

"Earthquakes are virtually unknown in that part of the country."

Lord Adam Patel of Blackburn spent anxious hours wondering whether his two brothers -- who are in the heart of the affected area -- were dead or alive, before discovering they were injured but safe.

Now he has teamed up with Blackburn with Darwen councillor Hussain Akhtar to start local fund-raising to help the victims.

Lord Patel left his village of Kamad, in Bharuch, in the state of Gujarat, in 1965, and his two brothers are currently in Gujarat. Lord Patel, who was the first Asian to be made an honorary peer in East Lancashire, spent an anxious few hours trying to contact his brothers as the earthquake had disabled most of the communication systems in the state.

He said: "I could not get hold of my brothers until about 9am because all the phones were down. I was very anxious to hear the news. They suffered minor injuries but they are all right."

The Foreign Office issued a helpline number -- 020 7839 1010 -- for people worried about relatives but said it was difficult to get information from the disaster zone because communications were down.

A team of emergency rescue workers -- including nine firefighters from Lancashire -- are on stand-by to visit the disaster area, pending clearance from the Indian authorities.