A SOUTHAMPTON man has revealed the heartfelt gratitude to the city felt by Indian villagers devastated by an earthquake.

Harkishan Mehta, 56, took part in a poignant ceremony at a school in Anjar, being rebuilt with help from cash raised by a Daily Echo-backed appeal.

The paper teamed up with the Vedic Society Hindu Temple in Northam to raise more than £36,000 after a huge quake struck the western state of Gujarat more than two years ago.

Among the hundreds of casualties were schoolchildren at Anjar's secondary school, which was reduced to rubble.

But thanks to cash raised in Southampton, it is being restored, with a wing being named Southampton Vedic as a tribute to the city's fund-raising efforts. Mr Mehta, a committee member at the Vedic temple, took part in a foundation stone-laying ceremony on the second anniversary of the disaster, earlier this year.

The wholesaler was on business in India in the city of Rajkot, near the epicentre of the quake when it hit.

He said: "I was frightened because I had never seen anything like this before. Many buildings in the city were ruined.

"The reception I had when I went back for the foundation stone-laying ceremony was great.

"Everyone was so pleased and happy that we could help with this project. Some of the children who went to the school came on to a stage to talk about the earthquake and what is going on now."

The school is expected to be completed in time for the start of the new term in early summer. Children in the area currently have lessons in portable cabins while it is being re-built.

Naresh Sonchatla, vice president of the Vedic temple in Radcliffe Road, said: "We chose to support this project not just to help those affected by the earthquake but for future generations in the area.

"It is being called Southampton Vedic because the Vedic Society Temple was the main instigator of the fundraising and with the help of the Daily Echo, so many people wanted to extend support and give money."