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| Wednesday, 31 December 2003 |
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Iran helps quake survivors as rescuers pull out BAM, Iran, Tuesday (Reuters) Iran, backed by a massive international aid effort, turned its full attention on Tuesday to the plight of tens of thousands left bereaved and homeless by Friday's devastating earthquake that killed up to 30,000 people. But search and rescue teams from 28 countries, including most of the European Union's 15 members, Japan, Russia and even Iran's arch-foe the United States, began to pack up their sophisticated equipment on Monday night as hopes of finding any more survivors all but evaporated. "The first phase is over," said Thomas Krimm, spokesman of Germany's THW disaster relief organisation. "That means the search and rescue teams are winding down their activities, although they are ready to engage if they get new indications from the local population. It's just that the chance of finding someone alive is steadily falling." Officials said they had recovered and buried 25,000 people, most in makeshift graves with little ceremony. Whole families were killed in their beds when the pre-dawn earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit southeastern Iran, sending the mostly mud-brick homes crashing to the ground. The quake was the world's deadliest in more than a decade. Officials say they expect the final death toll to reach 30,000. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in the Islamic Republic of 66 million people, pledged to restore Bam to its former glory. "We share your sorrow, those lost are our children. We will rebuild Bam stronger than before," he said, addressing a crowd in one of the city's devastated squares. President Mohammad Khatami chaired an emergency cabinet meeting at Bam's small airport which has been turned into an emergency relief centre. "The scale of the catastrophe is so big that whatever has been done is not yet sufficient," he told reporters. "I hope more and more aid will arrive in coming hours." As darkness fell on Bam, people huddled around open fires in front of the rubble where their homes once stood. Street lights illuminated patches of the city as power began to return. Tahereh Taherian, a 45-year-old housewife, said she had lost 60 family members in the quake. "God is testing us," she said. "I'm thanking God because one of our sons has been left alive." |
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