Iran quake death toll reaches 13,000
Dec 28, 2003
BAM, Iran, Sunday - Hope was fading fast on Sunday of finding many more survivors in the rubble of Bam, two days after a devastating earthquake destroyed 70 percent of the southeast Iranian town of 100,000 people with tens of thousands feared dead
BAM, Iran, Sunday - Hope was fading fast on Sunday of finding many more survivors in the rubble of Bam, two days after a devastating earthquake destroyed 70 percent of the southeast Iranian town of 100,000 people with tens of thousands feared dead.
In Geneva, the United Nations announced that the search for survivors would end later in the day, adding that international rescue teams were no longer needed.
Some 13,000 people have so far been confirmed dead in the Bam region, state radio said.
Meanwhile, the state IRNA news agency reported that some 200 people had been pulled alive from the ruins on Saturday, the first official indication of the progress of the rescue operation.
Those rescued were located thanks to the sniffer dogs and hi-tech ultrasound equipment of both Iranian and foreign emergency teams.
Freezing night-time temperatures and the disorganisation of the relief effort in the face of the massive casualty toll left little hope of further survivors being found.
The Iranian Minister for interior affairs, Mr. Abdolvahed Mussavi Lari, told reporters, “It is now 50 hours after the earthquake and there is still some small hope of finding some survivors, but it is very small.â€
In Geneva, the United Nations announced that the search for survivors would end later in the day, adding that international rescue teams were no longer needed.
Some 13,000 people have so far been confirmed dead in the Bam region, state radio said.
Meanwhile, the state IRNA news agency reported that some 200 people had been pulled alive from the ruins on Saturday, the first official indication of the progress of the rescue operation.
Those rescued were located thanks to the sniffer dogs and hi-tech ultrasound equipment of both Iranian and foreign emergency teams.
Freezing night-time temperatures and the disorganisation of the relief effort in the face of the massive casualty toll left little hope of further survivors being found.
The Iranian Minister for interior affairs, Mr. Abdolvahed Mussavi Lari, told reporters, “It is now 50 hours after the earthquake and there is still some small hope of finding some survivors, but it is very small.â€