Earthquake Strikes Iran, U.S. Says

AP ^ | Dec 25, 2003

[optimistically_conservative]

3 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - An earthquake has struck southeastern Iran near the city of Bam, the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) said Thursday.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The earthquake hit at 5:27 a.m. local time Friday — or 8:57 p.m. Thursday, Eastern Standard Time.

The USGS (news - web sites) reported a preliminary magnitude of 6.7, high enough to cause severe damage.

There have been similar earthquakes in this area that have caused damage, the USGS said.

[leadpenny]

Iranian Quake Deaths Could Reach 10,000
15 minutes ago

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - A severe earthquake devastated the historic city of Bam in southeast Iran on Friday, and a preliminary estimate said the death toll could reach 10,000.

Hasan Khoshrou, a legislator for Kerman province where the quake occurred, said there was still no precise number of dead from the magnitude 6.7 quake, but officials working in Bam had given him that figure.

"The quake hit the city when most of the people were in bed, raising fears that the death toll may go higher," he said.

Officials surveying the city of 80,000 people from helicopter said about 60 percent of the city's houses were destroyed, Khoshrou said. Water, power and phone lines were cut. The earthquake struck at about 5:30 a.m.

The U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) reported the quake's magnitude was 6.7, capable of causing severe damage. It reported an aftershock of magnitude 5.4 about two hours later.

Authorities in Bam, 630 miles southeast of the capital Tehran, put out a call for blood donations.

"Many people have died," Kerman province Gov. Mohammad Ali Karimi told state media. "Many people are buried under the rubble."

Relief teams set up their headquarters in a public square in Bam because their offices in the governor's building had been ruined, Karimi told state radio.

Karimi said worried relatives from surrounding areas were heading to Bam and causing massive traffic jams that were slowing rescue efforts. He urged them to stay home and wait until phone service was restored to try to find relatives.

Reports said the earthquake destroyed Bam's medieval fortress, a massive, 2,000-year-old structure that sits on a cliff near the city and attracts thousands of tourists each year. The fortress includes scores of ancient mud huts.

"The historic quarter of the city has been completely destroyed and caused great human loss," said Mehran Nourbakhsh, chief spokesman for Iran's Red Crescent, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross.

Authorities have sent numerous rescue workers with helicopters to the area, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

"We are doing everything we can to rescue the injured and unearth the dead," television quoted Karimi as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) expressed his condolences over the earthquake.

In a telegram to Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, Putin said he was "deeply shocked by an earthquake in Iran that brought numerous victims and destruction" and offered his "sincere condolences to the leadership and people of Iran."

Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Marina Ryklina said that two Il-76 transport aircraft with rescue workers and equipment were to leave for Iran later Friday.

Hardly any buildings in Iran are built to withstand earthquakes, although the country sits on several major faultlines and temblors are frequent. An earthquake of magnitude 7.3 to 7.7 killed 50,000 people on June 21, 1990, and most recently, a magnitude 6 quake in June, 2002 killed 500 people.

Also Friday, a magnitude 4 quake rocked the west Iranian town of Masjid Soleiman at 8:10 a.m., but no casualties were immediately reported, state television said. Masjid Soleiman is about 600 miles northwest of Bam.

[SkyPilot]

Yup--CNN just reported the 10,000+ figure could be true.

Horrible, but it is an act of God (even in insurance jargon).

My sympathy is somewhat muted by an experience I had several years ago. I was part of a crew that flew earthquake relief supplies into Iran. The Iranians would not accept "direct US Government assistance" so the blankets, medical supplies, etc were all private donations.

After landing, the Iranians were very cold and bitter to us druing the off load of the cargo. After we got airborne and returned to Europe, we learned that the Iranians complained on the air to ABC and CNN that the supplies were "used and of low quality."

[CatoRenasci]

Tell the Mullahs that if they can afford a nuclear weapons program, they can afford to take care of their own people.

I sympathize with the ordinary people whose lives are devastated by an earthquake, but we simply cannot aid that regime at all. Except perhaps to send them Jimmy Carter to build houses.....

[leadpenny]

Weren't there also claims during the Iran-Contra affair that we sluffed-off outdated missiles and other equipment to them? Maybe they're feeling "once burnt - twice shy?"

Did you ever take in the US "Go" rescue teams?

[LoudRepublicangirl]

I can't find any joy in this tragedy since the people of Iran are seeking freedom just as much as the people of Iraq whom we recently liberated. God help them.

[SkyPilot]

No lead--never took them in. We did take in Non-Government Orgs (the NGOs). Very, very tricky bunch. Most are hostile to the US, but want assistance in the form of transportation (and military protection--should that need arise).

[varon]

Earthquake Strikes Iran, U.S. Says

Wow, how did the CIA manage that? ;-)

[leadpenny]

Interesting, thanks. I have a friend who works for Americares and my daughter-in law and her mother run an NGO called "Help the Afghan Children."

[DB]

CNN is reporting possibly 20,000 dead or more.

[DB]

CNN's reporting possibly 20,000 or more now.

[Spok]

How WILL the Mullah's explain this one?

[F14 Pilot]

Ping ~!

[RaceBannon]

This site has had a recent influx of Iranian nationals that LOVE the US and Iran and want us back. That comment is out of line.

[RaceBannon]

Sorry, I'm not trying to tell you off.

I was one of the Marines off Iran in 1980. I hated them for over 20 years. HATED them.

I went to a Reunion in 200 of the former hostages and those involved and finally got over it. I created a website dedicated to the Hostage Crisis.

http://rescueattempt.tripod.com

Because of this, I have had a bunch of people contact me from Iran, and I have sent some of them to here, and they are registered users here.

Normal Iranians hate the Mullahs, and they love their heritage of Persia and the Shah.

Some of the statements here are actually mild compared to what I used to think, but we would be wrong to rejoice over the deaths of 20,000 people who want us back and hate the Mullahs too.

[Imal]

I could say something cute like "HAARP on target", but the truth is that a lot of good people died tonight, and my heart and prayers are with the victims and their families.

[ElkGroveDan]

BAM!

[StolarStorm]

Time to send in several hundred thousand troops to assist in the clean up and to provide humanitarian services... and incidently to arrest the mullah dictators.

[optimistically_conservative]

Latest news on Google

ReliefWeb pertaining to Iran (Islamic Republic of).

---

US sends aid to Iran quake victims
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 03/07/2002)

A cargo plane carrying American aid arrived in Iran yesterday, in a humanitarian gesture not seen since the 1979 revolution.

Both the Iranian government, and President George W Bush - who has denounced Iran as part of the "axis of evil" - insisted that the plane load of aid for victims of last week's earthquake had no political overtones.

Offering the aid Mr Bush said: "Human suffering knows no boundaries", and pointedly said the aid was for "the people of Iran".

An Iranian interior ministry official said the aid shipment "cannot be interpreted politically".

However, the humanitarian gesture could not avoid politics entirely. In order to sidestep political sensitivities, the US-chartered DC10 was flown by a Ugandan crew and bore no American markings.

It landed in Teheran carrying water purification kits, 20,000 hygiene kits and 5,000 blankets. Last week's earthquake killed 235 people and left 12,000 homeless.

Teheran's city centre still boasts countless murals and propaganda posters calling for the overthrow of the United States, and Islamic hardliners still chant "Death to America" at weekly rallies.

Washington has not maintained diplomatic relations since 1979, when its embassy was stormed by students, and diplomats taken hostage. The embassy buildings are now a barracks for Revolutionary Guards, and are officially known as the "Den of Imperialist Spies".

There was a brief hint of rapprochement between the two countries after September 11, when President Khatami, seen as a moderate reformer, expressed sympathy and condemned the attacks. Iran, as a long-time opponent of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, was hailed by some commentators as a potential, if unexpected ally in the war against terror.

However, the momentum of that gesture quickly foundered, and relations were plunged back into a deep freeze.

[LinuxRocks]

CNN is reporting possibly 20,000 dead or more.

What a shame, that a bunch of extremists might have been killed. Maybe it collapsed the cave the UBL is hiding in...rumor has it he is in Iran. His son has been seen there

[optimistically_conservative]

Iran's Red Crescent Society calls on people to urgently aid quake victims

Speaking to IRNA, he said all bases of the society are ready to collect peoples' aid round the country.

The victim families are in dire need of blankets, heaters, foodstuffs and warm clothes, he said.

The special account no. 702070 in Bank Melli has been dedicated for those Iranian living abroad to aid the victims, he said.

Over 90 percent of Iran's quake victims in critical condition