The Hindu : Iran quake: 150 pulled out from rubble

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 29, 2003

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Iran quake: 150 pulled out from rubble

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA DEC. 28. Iranian and international disaster management experts have rescued nearly 150 people as the search for survivors of the massive earthquake that hit Iran in the early hours on Friday got into full swing.

Among the 150 people rescued from under the rubble was an infant, who was buried for more that 24 hours, an officer from Iran's Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying.

According to the state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), 300 planes and helicopters have been pressed into service in the gigantic rescue effort.

The Provisional Governor's office put the toll at 22,000.

Mohammad-Ali Karimi, the governor General of Kerman province in south-eat Iran, where the quake hit city of Bam lies said that 2,500 bodies had been buried by midnight on Friday, but a precise casualty figure was yet to be ascertained.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will visit Bam this week to take a first hand look at the rescue and relief effort.

Speaking on Iran's state-run television on Saturday, Mr. Khatami urged a nation-wide drive to mobilise resources in aid of the victims of the earthquake.

"The fatal disaster has shaken the heart of the nation and saddened every Iranian," he said.

The Iranian President pointed out that the disaster in the city of Bam had generated an international wave of sympathy for Iranians.

With international aid now beginning to pour in, rescue teams from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Russia, Finland and Turkey, many with sniffer dogs, were already in the disaster zone.

The United States, which does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, is reported to be sending 75 tonnes of medical supplies, along with 200 medical and search and rescue personnel.

The United Nations has announced that its Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), based in Geneva is coordinating the visit of 24 Urban Search and Rescue teams from 20 countries to Bam.

Unlike Friday when many people had to spend the night in the near freezing temperatures around makeshift bonfires, most of the survivors displaced by the temblor were on Saturday, sheltered in tents.

Meanwhile, Ebrahim Sheibani the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran said that discussions were already underway on the reconstruction of the devastated city of Bam on a war footing.

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