Quake Kills 20,000 (!) in Iran
 

Just, wow.

http://www.reuters.com/printerFriend...toryID=4047680

Quake Kills 20,000 in Ancient Iranian City
Fri December 26, 2003 03:54 PM ET

By Parisa Hafezi

BAM, Iran (Reuters) - A pre-dawn earthquake razed much of the ancient Silk Road city of Bam in Iran on Friday, killing more than 20,000 people and injuring tens of thousands more, government officials said.

About 70 per cent of the buildings in the historic city, a popular tourist spot some 1,000 km (600 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, had collapsed and many residents were trapped under the rubble, state television said.

"Rescue workers have found more bodies. The figure is now more than 20,000," a senior government official said. The quake at about 5:30 a.m. (9 p.m. EST Thursday) measured 6.3 on the Richter scale.

Other officials said around 50,000 people were injured in and around the city, which, with its environs, had a population of some 200,000 people.

Bam was without water, electricity or gas as night fell and temperatures headed below freezing. Residents set fires to stay warm and made torches from palm branches for light as they dug with bare hands for survivors.

Bam governor Ali Shafiee told state TV: "The city of Bam must be built from scratch."

Bawling infants and dazed adults gathered in city squares, huddling against the cold under woolen blankets. Rubble-strewn pavements were lined with injured, some on intravenous drips.

State media said two hospitals had collapsed, crushing many of the staff, and the remaining hospitals were full. The injured were being ferried to neighboring towns.

Reuters witnesses said many houses had been flattened.

Distraught relatives wept next to shrouded corpses. Hundreds of bodies were bundled into trucks. Mechanized diggers hollowed out trenches where the dead were buried quickly without rites.

"I have lost all my family. My parents, my grandmother and two sisters are under the rubble," said Maryam, 17.

One grief-stricken old woman smeared her face with dirt, only able to utter: "My child, my child."


GOVERNMENT ACCUSED

Angry people accused the government of doing nothing to help them and said they were still without tents, water or fuel.

Witnesses said the road to Bam was choked with ambulances and people desperate to find family members.

Houses in the date-growing area are traditionally made from mud-brick, making them vulnerable to earthquakes.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran needed search dogs, blankets and medicines from the world community.

Russia, Germany, Poland, France, Italy, the United States and other states were sending help, including doctors, medical supplies and rescuers with sniffer dogs and special equipment to locate survivors buried beneath rubble.

A large part of the ancient citadel was destroyed, Mohammad Ali Karimi, governor of Kerman province, where Bam is located, said. Dating back 2,000 years, it had fortifications, towers, buildings, stables and a mosque.

Bam is on the old Silk Road route between China and Europe used by merchants and travelers for centuries. It is a tourist spot with inns, a gymnasium, a theological school and bazaars.

The quake, a regular occurrence in a country crossed by major faultlines, struck when most residents were asleep.

In June last year, a tremor measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit northern Iran, killing at least 229 people and injuring more than 1,000.

Some 35,000 people were killed in 1990 when earthquakes of up to 7.7 on the Richter scale hit the northwest of Iran. Tehran was hit by a quake of about seven on the Richter scale in 1830.

(Additional reporting by Christian Oliver in Tehran)

Uhh, does it surprise anybody that this story is getting less U.S. coverage than the 9 kids lost in that mud slide...? I realize the latter is also a terrible and sad story, but THIS is insane.

I was hapy to hear that President Bush "stands ready" to help. Whatever that means.

Well, here we have the "They're just stupid sand ******s, it's God shoving his proverbial God Rod up their asses, who cares, HOLY SHIT, WHITE CHILDREN HAVE DIED WHY GOD WHY" attitude.

Who farted?

Someone had to say it. :(

"Quake Frags 20,000 Children in Elbonia"

I bet they're gonna blame this on computer games too. >:


But seriously, that's fucked up. :(

Re: Quake Kills 20,000 (!) in Iran
 

I believe that their goverment, at least partly, is at fault here in it's failure to enforce strict building standards which would enable some of the buildings to withstand earthquake conditions. Granted, this one was pretty high on the Richter Scale but California has withstood the same type of conditions with nowhere near that fatality level. >:

:lol

Re: Quake Kills 20,000 (!) in Iran
 

The buildings are acient relics, it's one of the most cherished cities they have. To revamp it would essentially mean razing it anyway, and I don't think they take too kindly to such sudden change over there.....

Also, according to numbers put out by the AP today, there have only been roughly a dozen earthquakes of greater magnitude since 1923. So, despite California's quake habit, this one was still a biggie.

Below: So I hate to be cynical over what is clearly a very good gesture, but doesn't deploying these "searh-and-rescue" teams of about 200 seem like a great opportunity for the Bush administration to do some spying on 1/3 of the "evil axis"????

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...556416,00.html

U.S. Sending Medical Supplies to Iran

Saturday December 27, 2003 10:46 PM

By SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writer

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - The Bush administration is sending 150,000 pounds of medical supplies in a military airlift to quake-ravaged Iran, White House officials said Saturday.

The administration is also dispatching teams of about 200 search-and-rescue, disaster relief coordination and surgical experts from Fairfax County, Va., Los Angeles and Boston, said spokesman Scott McClellan. Disaster-response experts will also be drawn from three federal agencies.

The aid shipments are the result of highly unusual direct communications between Iran and the United States, which maintain no formal diplomatic ties. But senior administration officials emphasized the assistance does not mark a change in U.S. policy toward Iran, which remains on the State Department's list of sponsors of terrorism.

The government and civilian teams will work with the International Red Cross, the Iranian Red Crescent Society and the United Nations to determine needs and distribute the supplies.

Among the medical supplies being shipped aboard six C-130 cargo planes are blood, food, blankets and plastic sheeting for temporary housing, officials said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said late Saturday the planes were to leave the United States later in the evening, and arrive in Iran ``sometime within the next 24 hours.''

The civilian teams include 70 firefighters from California Task Force Two and the 73-member Virginia Task Force One, a team that includes doctors, paramedics, structural engineers, search and rescue specialists and several Fairfax County firefighters.

The two groups are among only three urban search-and-rescue task forces in the United States that are trained and certified for overseas disaster deployment. The other is in Florida.

The U.S. teams' equipment includes special cameras that can fit in tight crevices to search for survivors amid wreckage.

``The United States will continue to work with Iranian authorities and international relief organizations to help the people of Iran during this challenging time,'' McClellan said.

A senior administration official said the aid shipments did not mark a shift in U.S. policy toward Iran. But the airlift could help thaw relations with Iran, which President Bush branded part of an ``axis of evil'' last year. The United States says Iran sponsors terrorism, is trying to acquire nuclear weapons and has a poor human rights record.

U.S. sanctions prohibit most trade with Iran and most dealings between the countries are conducted through intermediaries.

The American response to the quake Friday was much more aggressive than it was to a smaller quake last year, when it used the United Nations to channel $300,000 in humanitarian aid to Iran after a magnitude-6.1 quake killed 245 people in the northwestern part of the country.

Two Americans were among the casualties in the devastating earthquake that rocked southeastern Iran Friday, a State Department official said.

Spokesman Lou Fintor said one American was killed and another was injured in the powerful quake in the ancient city of Bam.

The State Department did not release the names of the two Americans, who were visiting the city's 2,000-year-old citadel at the time.

Fintor said the injured American has been hospitalized in Tehran and is receiving medical care. The injuries are serious but do not appear to be life-threatening, he said.

Iran's Interior Ministry has estimated that about 20,000 people were killed in the earthquake, but rescue officials said the number could be twice as high. More than 30,000 people were injured.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage called Iran's envoy to the United Nations, Javad Zarif, to convey condolences and offer relief supplies, administration officials said.

The call was out of the ordinary: The United States normally communicates with Tehran through Swiss intermediaries. But State Department officials deemed the earthquake disaster urgent enough to merit personal communication, aides said.

By landing military planes in Iran, the humanitarian mission was extraordinary in another respect. According to one senior White House official, few if any American soldiers have set foot in Iran since President Jimmy Carter ordered a mission in 1980 to rescue U.S. hostages.

A U.S. helicopter crashed during the failed mission, killing eight U.S. servicemen.

Fintor denied there was any ``political angle'' in the offer of assistance from Washington.

``Our only mission is to alleviate the human suffering associated with yesterday's earthquake. These efforts will not alter the tone or intensity of our dialogue with the Iranians on other matters of grave concern,'' he said.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

Mudslides happen in California ALL the time. That this was a lead story on National news is extremely odd. 20,000 deaths vs. 20 deaths/injuries. What the hell?

Bam, Iran wasn't just ancient...it was built entirely out of mudd!! (a lot of mudd in the news huh?) ...check out how insane this place was....all built out of sand (and impossible to retrofit for earthquakes) Look.....

http://www.sacredsites.com/december2001pages/bam.htm

Our ability to generate spies fluent in Farsi isn't going to increase the second we land our planes on Iranian soil is it? The people of Iran aren't representative of the Ayatollah and they deserve the same support we offer to places like Mexico. Any criticism should saved for Iran's hesitance to allow the ONE nation in the nearby vacinity that is trained in earthquake aid to assist them. Sadly the people of Iran aren't going to get the same Israeli Dissaster Rescue Team that's gone and helped out in Argentinia, Turkey, Columbia, Greece..... etc. It's tragic, and I'm at least happy the Red Cross, and the US can get in there.

California doesn't have that many cities built with mudbricks, either.

Bricks? They weren't even using bricks! It was like a giant sand castle village.

"Castles made of sand melt into the sea.....eventually."

Jimi FUCKING Hendrix


But, I digress, the reason the 20 kids got more attention is because it happened here. Not that American lives are more important, its just that they were closer. Human nature, not American arrogance.

And, Kevin, you do realize that onm the ground intel has been the biggest weakness we have had for some time now, right? Why would it be wasted in a rescue effort? I'm sure those workers would be guided by the hand the whole time there, anyway.

I'm actually kind of hoping Israel sends in those search and rescue dogs of theirs. Best in the world at it. Would save lives and be a great gesture towards a little more peace.

I was watching the news this morning and they said it was 40,000 people.

I'm not sure if that was true or not.

...what the hell significance does that have?

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

All this talk about house made of mud and/or sand.....plus, I was listening to his stuff at work yesterday.......it just felt right.

"Below: So I hate to be cynical over what is clearly a very good gesture, but doesn't deploying these "searh-and-rescue" teams of about 200 seem like a great opportunity for the Bush administration to do some spying on 1/3 of the "evil axis"????"

I think it's shitty to use the deaths of 10's of thousands of innocent people as a political football to bash Bush.

Kevin's possible response:

"I think it's shitty for Bush to use 9/11 as a political football to attack Saddam and murder billions of innocent people."

Re: Quake Kills 20,000 (!) in Iran
 

Well, with a virtually razed city and @ 20,000 dead maybe it's something they need to start considering, eh?*

* The "eh" was put in on AChimp's behalf in an effort to make this forum more Canada-friendly.

Yes, I thought it too. Those poor children.

according to ABC news the travisties of irans quakes are "just coming to light..." :rolleyes

A couple in Victoria lost 150 relatives.

That's a lot of inheritance. ;)

This is some horrible, horrible shit. :(

I know, but it pales in comparison to how many lives have been destroyed by Everquest.