Quake-hit Iran still waiting for help
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-1-2005_pg4_20
TEHRAN: A year to the day before an earthquake and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean killed more than 160,000 people; an Iranian city was devastated by a quake that brought a flood of well-meaning promises to help.
But in the tents or prefab houses of Bam, a city that still looks like a wasteland, residents must have a sense of deja vu as they follow the horrific news from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere. A major disaster hits, the international community pledges huge amounts of money, but then the promises of rapid reconstruction fail to materialise.
The ancient city of Bam was flattened in a quake that struck on December 26, 2003. More than 30,000 people were killed and tens of thousands left homeless, and a year on most survivors are still living in makeshift housing.
Many victims, complaining of the slow pace of reconstruction, are blaming Iranian authorities, who in turn point the finger at what they say are broken promises from international donors. “The Westerners, with all their money, do not feel any pity,” top cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Janatti complained in a sermon here on Friday, warning the Asian tsunami victims not to hold out for international help.
“For Bam, at first they said they would give hundreds of millions of dollars, and the people were happy that Bam would be rebuilt. But then the Westerners forgot. They are making the same promises now. But they don’t keep their promises.”
According to the United Nations, only 17 million dollars of the 32 million it asked for in a “flash appeal” to help after the Bam disaster has been received. afp
Dinosaur Footprints Moulded In Kerman, Iran
Persian Journal
Iran News
Dinosaur Footprints Moulded In Kerman, Iran
CHN
Jan 8, 2005, 16:45
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/printer_5294.shtml
In a special project aimed at extending paleontological studies, Iranian paleontologists will identify and mould dinosaur footprints in cooperation with Iran’s Natural History museum.
Kerman province has long been called as the fossil paradise in Iran due to having many fossils from different geological periods. Experts have so far been able to identify in this region fossils of aquatics belonging to the 1st geological period, fossils of dinosaurs from Jurassic period, and fossils of mammals belonging to the 3rd geological period.
"As Kerman region is of great importance as far as discovering fossils is concerned and fossils of different types of vertebrates have been identified here, we began a special project aimed at identifying dinosaur footprints and moulding them", Amir-hossein Kokabi-nezhad, the paleontologist of the Natural History museum told CHN.
Since the Islamic revolution took place in Iran 26 years ago, paleontological studies began only 2 years ago in Maragheh fossil region. With the aim of extending these studies, experts chose Kerman province as the 2nd region.
The dinosaur footprints in question were discovered before the Islamic revolution by the foreign experts in Zarand region in Kerman province.
Iran is among the most important countries in the world fossil-wise, with fossil regions like Maragheh, Varzaghan, and Kerman. In the last 2 years, Iranian experts have found fossils belonging to gigantic animals dating back to over 1 million years ago.