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Tons of Relief Aid Pours Into Quake-Hit Iran

Wed December 31, 2003 02:58 AM ET
By Edmund Blair and Christian Oliver
BAM, Iran (Reuters)

Tons of humanitarian aid poured into Iran on Wednesday as relief workers sought to improve living conditions for tens of thousands of survivors of last week's earthquake which killed at least 30,000 people.

With government officials saying the death toll from one of the worst natural disasters of modern times may rise as high as 50,000, there were unconfirmed reports of survivors still being found alive under the ruins left by the December 26 tremor.

But most international rescue teams based in the worst-hit ancient Silk Road city of Bam, 625 miles southeast of Tehran, have already abandoned their search.

"Members of the public are still asking our teams to search in some areas," said Ted Pearn of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination.

Ian Scher, head of search team Rescue South Africa, said the prospects were very slim of pulling any more survivors from the rubble in Bam and surrounding areas where roughly 70 percent of the mud-brick dwellings were badly damaged or destroyed.

"All we're doing is finding bodies. We're winding up the rescue," he said. Scher added, however, that body recovery was important to give "closure" to bereaved family members.

State television reported that two men and two women aged between 20 and 60 had been found alive by search teams on Tuesday evening by the Iranian army and transferred to a nearby hospital. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

Television said 30,000 bodies had been recovered and buried so far and 14,000 injured had been taken to hospitals. The pre-dawn quake killed whole families as they slept.

HELP FROM WASHINGTON

Nearly $500 million in relief assistance has been pledged to Iran from dozens of organizations and countries, including some that have strained relations with the Islamic Republic.

Arch-foe Washington, which broke ties with Tehran shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution, was at the forefront of the relief effort, sending an 84-strong team and planeloads of blankets, sheeting, medical supplies and water.

Iran's President Mohammad Khatami welcomed the U.S. aid, but insisted it would not alter relations between the two countries.
"This has nothing to do with political issues. The problems in Iran-U.S. relations are rooted in history," he said.

Planeloads of tents, blankets, tarpaulins, light construction materials, medicines, water and food were being stockpiled at Bam's small airport, the U.N.'s Pearn said.

With healthcare a top concern following the destruction of Bam's two main hospitals in the quake, two more field hospitals were being set up on Tuesday in addition to the four already sent by foreign donors.

Overnight, groups of survivors huddled against near-freezing temperatures in tents outside the rubble of their homes.

"It's very cold and we don't have any equipment for cooking, just tinned food and bread," said Fariba Barami, 30.

Residents said some children who survived the quake had died from exposure in the bitter cold nights immediately afterwards.

Hundreds of clerics from the Shi'ite holy city of Qom in central Iran had set up a camp on the outskirts of the city.

"There are children and bereaved who must be consoled. That is our job," said Mohammad Hashemi who had exchanged the usual clerical garb of long gown and turban for an anorak, army fatigue pants and a black woolen hat.

He added that it was "only for God" to understand why such a terribly tragedy had occurred.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4060182

US Aid Workers Join Quake Relief

December 31, 2003
BBC News
BBCi

Aid workers from the US have joined efforts in Iran to help people affected by Friday's devastating earthquake. It is the first official representation by Americans since Washington cut ties with Iran after the 1979 revolution.

Teams from 40 countries are helping thousands of residents in the city of Bam who are spending a sixth day outside in harsh conditions.

The quake destroyed 90% of houses in Bam and is believed to have left between 40,000 and 50,000 people dead.

President Mohammed Khatami welcomed the US participation, but stressed that it did not change relations between the two countries.

The 80-strong US team has started setting up a field hospital - the first to operate since Bam's own two hospitals were flattened in the earthquake.

USAid spokesman Dewy Perks told the BBC it was an honour to be helping the people of Iran on behalf of the US Government. It was "not about politics, it's about humanitarian relief", he said.

Iraq has also sent a 55-strong medical team, the head of the Iraq's Red Crescent Society Ezzeddin Chalabi said, and truckloads of emergency supplies have been sent from Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.

Under Saddam Hussein's leadership, Iran and Iraq fought a devastating eight-year war in the 1980s, but relations have improved since his overthrow.

Priority

Tons of humanitarian aid have been pouring into Iran, and there have been pledges of $500m in aid from the international community.

Planeloads of tents, blankets, tarpaulins, building materials, medicine, water and food are being stockpiled at Bam's small airport, said UN co-ordinator Ted Pearn.

Most international rescuers in Bam have now abandoned their search for survivors and the focus of the humanitarian effort is being switched towards providing longer-term relief.

However, residents are still asking for teams to search some areas, Mr Pearn said.

Unconfirmed reports on state television said two men and two women had been found alive on Tuesday evening by the Iranian army and transferred to a nearby hospital.

About 2,000 people have been saved from the rubble, while about 30,000 corpses have been recovered.

Bodies are being swiftly buried and the authorities are trying to identify hundreds of unidentified victims, with often-gruesome photographs being shown to relatives on computers at Bam's burial grounds.

Unknown victims

The number of dead seems set to rise much higher, but the final figure may never be known as entire families have died and there is no-one left to register them as missing.

"If we consider that, on average, five people lived in each house we can say the death toll will reach 50,000," one Iranian official said.

President Khatami - who has pledged to rebuild Bam's 2,000-year-old citadel "whatever the cost" and to rebuild the city within two years - told reporters he believed the number of dead would be about 40,000.

Iran's health ministry says 14,360 were injured, of whom 8,500 have been admitted to hospital in the nearby city of Kerman, as well as in the capital Tehran and other provinces.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Shia clerics from the holy city of Qom in central Iran have set up a camp on the outskirts of Bam, exchanging their traditional black gowns and turbans for all-weather gear.

"There are children and bereaved who must be consoled. That is our job," said one of the clerics, Mohammad Hashemi.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3358685.stm

Khatami Denies Iran's Killer Quake Caused by Nuclear Test

December 31, 2003
AFP
Khaleej Times

TEHERAN - President Mohammad Khatami has denied that the killer quake, which struck southeast Iran on December 26, was caused by a secret nuclear test, newspapers reported on Wednesday.

“These allegations have spread, but they are completely unfounded,” said the president, who on Monday and Tuesday visited the Bam region at the epicentre of the quake that he estimated had cost 40,000 lives.

“Our religious principles, our security and defence doctrine leave no room for nuclear arms,” he said, quoted by the Iranian media.

Iran is building its first nuclear reactor but has repeatedly denied accusations from the United States and Israel that it has embarked on a covert nuclear arms programme.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2003/December/middleeast_December579.xml&section=middleeast

Israel to Launch "Diplomatic Offensive" Against Iran "Nuke Threat"

December 31, 2003
Al Bawaba
Albawaba.com

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his senior cabinet ministers decided Wednesday to launch a diplomatic offensive against the "threat" posed by Iran, a source close to the premier said.

Sharon's mini-cabinet, which includes Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, met amid increasing tension between the two sides. Other ministers - Ehud Olmert, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yosef Lapid, Uzi Landau - attended the meeting as well as top members of Israel's intelligence community.

The ministers decided to counter the threat "by diplomatic means" with the backing of the United States, the source added, according to AFP. The meeting also discussed implications of Libya's announced intention to abandon weapons of mass destruction, Haaretz reported.

Last month, Sharon asked Mossad chief Meir Dagan to coordinate efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear program.

http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=266908&lang=e&dir=news

Ordinary Iranians welcome U.S. aid team with open arms

Reuters - World News
Dec 31, 2003

BAM - Welcomed by ordinary Iranians and officials, a U.S. relief team started work in the devastated Iranian city of Bam on Wednesday seeking to offer medical aid in a country where Washington is dubbed the "Great Satan".

"For Americans to come here and help us in such a situation, I really appreciate it and all Iranians appreciate it," said Shi'ite Muslim cleric Sheikh Ahmad Faiz, as a U.S. team erected a tent bearing a large U.S. flag.

The Stars and Stripes is routinely burned during official demonstrations in Iran against the U.S. government which broke ties with Tehran shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"I welcome everybody who helps Iranian people, including the United States. This action is not related to politics," said 29- year-old Saman Ranjbar as two U.S. trucks emblazoned with Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department passed by.

Despite official antipathy towards Washington, ordinary Iranians are keen followers of U.S. culture and fashions and recent opinion polls show most favour the restoration of ties between the two countries.

U.S. aid workers -- some with Stars and Stripes badges on their uniforms -- said they were greeted warmly at every stage of their long journey that began in the United States on Saturday and ended in Bam late on Tuesday.

They arrived in the first U.S. military flights to Iran for over two decades.

"At every stop, they have opened their hearts," said Marty Bahamonde, spokesman for the team from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At least some of the U.S. group harboured hopes that the trip could improve years of bilateral tension.

"It actually feels fantastic to come here and help them and try to break the ice, so to speak," said Kent Watts, a 49-year- old rescue officer with the office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

BUSH MULLING DIALOGUE BID

At least 30,000 people were killed in the December 26 quake centred on the ancient Silk Road City. About 14,000 were injured and around 100,000 made homeless.

"We are here as humanitarians," Bahamonde said.

"When you get down to it, we are just U.S. citizens trying to help their citizens deal with this terrible aftermath."

He said the team was making sure it did nothing to offend Iranian culture such as ensuring that women members followed strict Islamic dress codes to cover their hair in public.

An unnamed senior U.S. official said on Tuesday U.S. President George W. Bush had been considering opening dialogue with Iran, a country he has branded part of an 'axis of evil'.

"The earthquake kind of brings it to a head," he said, underlining that Bush expected a gesture from the Islamic Republic following the provision of U.S. aid.

Iran's President Mohammad Khatami has welcomed the aid, but insists it will not alter relations between the two foes.

"This has nothing to do with political issues. The problems in Iran-U.S. relations are rooted in history," he said. For the U.S. aid team the main complication was trying to arrange travel logistics in a country where the U.S. embassy has been closed for more than two decades.

"We are just very pleased to be allowed in here," said Bill Gavelink, manager of the U.S. Disaster Assistance Response Team.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_4328.shtml

Trapped for days, 4 survivors freed from the rubble in Iran
BAM, Iran (AP) — Soldiers pulled four more people alive from the rubble of Iran's devastating earthquake, hours after rescue workers had all but given up hope of finding survivors and focused their efforts on relief and preventing disease.
As the death toll from Friday's 6.6-magnitude quake reached at least 28,000, the discovery late Tuesday of two men and two women amazed health workers handling the aftermath of the disaster. Normally, people trapped under collapsed buildings can survive three days — a deadline that expired Monday morning.

"It's a miracle," Mohammad Nickam of the Health Ministry said Wednesday. Deputy Health Minister Mohammed Akbari said the four survivors were in "relatively good condition." More information was not immediately available.

Residents of the southeastern city of Bam increasingly blamed the authorities Tuesday for poor distribution of relief supplies. Shortages were aggravated by an influx of people from outlying villages struck by the quake. (Related video: Quake recovery continues)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-12-31-iran-quake_x.htm