This is really sad I kept expecting the death toll would go down, but it looks like it will increase from 20,000. It's really good that everyone is rushing to help them, I think this would be overwhelming for just about any country. Foreign Teams Aid Iran Quake Rescuers, 20,000 Dead By Parisa Hafezi BAM, Iran (Reuters) - International rescue workers hacked desperately through flattened debris for survivors and cemeteries overflowed in Iran's ancient Silk Road city of Bam on Saturday after an earthquake that killed at least 20,000 people. President Bush (news - web sites), who once branded Iran part of an "axis of evil," and other world leaders rushed to offer the Islamic Republic whatever help they could. Many were still pinned under the rubble of the shattered city of 80,000, their chances of survival ebbing away with time. Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari said the hordes of homeless survivors should be sheltered in tents by Saturday night. But witnesses thought this was an unlikely prospect with so many of them still cowering under blankets at nightfall. President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) has admitted Iran cannot cope on its own. The official IRNA news agency quoted Mousavi-Lari as saying assistance would be welcome from every corner of the globe other than Israel. Swiss rescuers with sniffer dogs were the first foreign team to start hunting for trapped survivors, Iranian television said. The pre-dawn quake on Friday also injured about 30,000 people, state television said. The quake measured 6.3 on the Richter scale and struck when many people were still asleep. If the figures are finally confirmed, the Bam quake was the world's worst in terms of death toll in more than 10 years. Some 19,700 people were killed in January 2001 when a Richter 7.7 tremblor hit the Indian state of Gujarat. Reuters witnesses said the city's cemeteries were crammed to overflowing with fully-clothed corpses and a stench of death was beginning to pervade the streets. The International Red Crescent has advised people to wear gloves and facemasks because of fears of an epidemic. Fatemeh, 35, was burying her two children. "I am burying myself in this grave," she said. Taher, 50, was inconsolable, sobbing "wake up, wake up" to the corpse of his teenage son Farzad. About 70 per cent of Bam, a popular tourist spot some 1,000 km (600 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran with an historic citadel and other centuries-old buildings, was leveled. Exhausted, dust-covered rescue worker Omid Alipour said his team had dug out only three injured survivors during the night. "We don't have anything, just our bare hands," he said. Reporters said roads to the 120,000 or so people in the quake-stricken outlying villages had been broken by the force of the tremors but some aid workers were setting out on foot. Television showed the injured, bloodied and bandaged, being crammed into aircraft and flown to cities around the country. It said 3,000 had been flown to hospitals in other cities. DEATH TOLL MOUNTS The Interior Ministry confirmed on Saturday the death toll now stood at 20,000, state television said. Witnesses said hundreds of bodies had already been tipped into broad trenches hollowed out by mechanical diggers. Bam airport has been converted into a sprawling, makeshift hospital. Washington has no official ties with Tehran, but Bush said in a statement: "We stand ready to help the people of Iran." A U.S. official said the State Department would be announcing an aid package soon. The United Nations (news - web sites), European Union (news - web sites) countries, Russia, China, Poland, Japan, Turkey and others also heeded Iran's appeals for help from the international community. They pledged doctors, medical supplies, financial aid, and rescuers with sniffer dogs and equipment to locate survivors. A 68-strong British rescue team with sniffer dogs, special cameras and listening devices touched down in Kerman, near Bam, early on Saturday. "We need help, otherwise we will be pulling corpses, not the injured, out of the rubble," Brigadier Mohammadi, commander of the army in southeast Iran, told state television. INJURED TREATED AMID RUBBLE Rubble-strewn pavements were lined with injured, some on intravenous drips. A large part of the ancient citadel was destroyed, Kerman province governor Mohammad Ali Karimi said. Dating back 2,000 years, it had sprawling fortifications, towers, stables and a mosque. It was the city's main tourist attraction. "The city of Bam must be built from scratch," said its governor Ali Shafiee. Houses in the date-growing area are traditionally made from mud-brick, making them vulnerable to earthquakes. Bam is on the old Silk Road route between China and Europe used by merchants and travelers for centuries. It is noted for its inns, a theological school and bazaars. The country's sharply divided press was united in grief across the conservative and reformist spectrum. The reformist Sharq newspaper called for builders to observe widely flouted construction laws. Earthquakes (news - web sites) are a regular occurrence in Iran, an oil-producing country criss-crossed by major faultlines. Some 35,000 people were killed in 1990 when earthquakes of up to 7.7 on the Richter scale hit the northwest of Iran.
it's almost unreal...and we thought 9/11 was bad. can you imagine something like this happening in america? its just unbelieveable
I was gonna pop off with a lame "Where's Typhoon?" joke here, but actually reading the article bummed me out too much. I didn't know Iran was prone to quakes.
Iran is very prone to quakes. This doesn't happen all the time, but it happens once in a blue moon. My girl's half uncle's brothers and sisters were all there. In related news, Iran accepted all international aid except anything from Israel. Can't believe they actually decalred that publicly.
Rescue officials are now saying that the death toll is likely double the initial estimate, which would mean 40,000. That's a lotta people
I am glad they are letting us and the rest of the world help them this is a really terrible disaster. Some 30,000 people were injured in the quake, which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, and aid workers estimate more than 100,000 people might have been left homeless. "I believe the (death) toll will reach 30,000," said a government official in Kerman province, where the quake struck before dawn on Friday while most people were still sleeping and destroyed about 70 percent of Bam's mostly mud-brick buildings. Bam, a popular tourist spot because of an historic citadel and other centuries-old buildings, has a history going back to the old Silk Road days when it was a stopover for merchants and travelers between China and Europe. A large part of the citadel was destroyed by the quake. A U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules landed in Kerman, near Bam, with a first delivery of American aid and the U.S. military said it would ship in about 70 tonnes of supplies originally earmarked for reconstruction in Iraq U.S. officials said American airmen and Iranian soldiers worked together to unload the plane, the first American flight into Iran since the Iranian hostage crisis ended in 1981. Iran Says Quake Death Toll Could Reach 30,000 By Parisa Hafezi BAM, Iran (Reuters) - Rescuers said Monday was probably the last hope of finding more survivors from Iran's devastating earthquake as officials said the death toll could reach 30,000 and warned disease was now a threat. As searches went into a fourth day, rescuers said they were no longer finding survivors -- only the mangled remains of people killed when the world's most lethal earthquake in at least 10 years leveled the ancient Silk Road city of Bam. "(Rescue operations) will continue at least for one more day (until midnight on Monday) when an assessment will be made to continue or not," Alain Pasche of a U.N. rescue coordination team told Reuters. "After five days the chances of finding anyone alive are very slim." Round-the-clock relief efforts were complicated by piles of bodies in the streets, overflowing cemeteries, bitterly cold nights, rain, repeated aftershocks, confusion and some looting. DEATH TOLL MAY REACH 30,000 "I believe the (death) toll will reach 30,000," said a government official in Kerman province, where the quake struck before dawn on Friday while most people were still sleeping and destroyed about 70 percent of Bam's mostly mud-brick buildings. "Some outlying villages are even more badly damaged than Bam. They are 100 percent destroyed," the official said. Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari said on state television some 20,000 bodies had been recovered, but the death toll was likely to be much higher. Warning disease was a threat, he said: "We have instructed various bodies to immediately start cleaning up. If we don't bring hygiene back to the city we will have major problems." Some 30,000 people were injured in the quake, which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, and aid workers estimate more than 100,000 people might have been left homeless. Aid poured in from around the world to help deal with a disaster that President Mohammad Khatami said Iran could not cope with on its own. Up to 600 foreign aid workers were reported to be helping in Bam. Local people and some aid workers said relief efforts were chaotic. "There is no organization. Whoever is stronger takes the aid," said resident Mehdi Dehghani. ARMED YOUNG MEN LOOT TENTS Some young men armed with pistols and Kalashnikov assault rifles drove into Bam in vans and stole Red Crescent tents. Others on motorbikes chased aid trucks, picking up blankets thrown out by soldiers. As cemeteries battled to cope, mullahs in shirt-sleeves rather than their usual robes and wearing face masks against the dust and smell tore sheeting to shroud corpses. There was no time to wash the bodies according to Islamic rituals. Bodies were brought in blankets, sprayed with disinfectant to guard against disease and tipped into trenches hollowed out by mechanical diggers. Iranian authorities said they were using dogs to search for victims although the animal is deemed impure in Islam. Although some survivors have been accommodated in tents, others spent a third night in the open in temperatures of 7 degrees Celsius, burning cardboard and any other material they could find to fend off the cold. Bam airport has become a sprawling, makeshift hospital and rubble-strewn pavements are lined with injured, some on intravenous drips. A U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules landed in Kerman, near Bam, with a first delivery of American aid and the U.S. military said it would ship in about 70 tonnes of supplies originally earmarked for reconstruction in Iraq. US AIRMEN, IRANIAN SOLDIERS WORK TOGETHER U.S. officials said American airmen and Iranian soldiers worked together to unload the plane, the first American flight into Iran since the Iranian hostage crisis ended in 1981. Washington broke ties with Iran after students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The Islamic Republic's call to the world for help from anywhere but Israel contrasted with its rejection of assistance in 1990 when a quake killed 36,000 people. Until Friday, the biggest earthquake death toll in the past decade was in India, where 19,700 people died in January 2001. Bam, a popular tourist spot because of an historic citadel and other centuries-old buildings, has a history going back to the old Silk Road days when it was a stopover for merchants and travelers between China and Europe. A large part of the citadel was destroyed by the quake.
this story is absolutely tearing me up...i can't imagine anything more painful than losing your family so suddenly...and then looking around and seeing so much death.
