Quake survivors attack 'sluggish' rescue mission

THE survivors of a massive earthquake that may have killed up to 20,000 people and devastated the historic southeastern Iranian city of Bam were beside themselves with grief yesterday, as the scale of the catastrophe swamped rescue workers.

Dozens of bodies littered the streets of the city, built almost entirely from mud brick and ill-equipped to withstand disaster. Bereaved residents pleaded for the authorities to speed up rescue efforts after the historic centre of the city was completely destroyed.

"Seventeen of my relatives are buried under the ruins of my home, they've got to get a move on or all of them will die," said one man, who gave his name only as Ali, as he attempted to shift the rubble with a spade.

At the other end of the street, a dozen corpses lay on the ground with no one able to attend to them.

The city's streets were littered with bodies, the scene one of utter devastation in all directions.

More than 90% of the old city was destroyed. Besides the flattened homes, the city centre with its 2,000-year-old citadel, once the largest mud-brick structure in the world, was gone forever.

"Why is help so slow in coming? If we were in the West, all resources would have been mobilised," said one survivor.

Many residents tried to shift debris using simple tools. Small teams from the Iranian Red Crescent also did what they could, but Tehran quickly appealed to foreign governments and aid organisations to supply sniffer dogs and equipment to help in the hunt for bodies and survivors.

Many residents searched for any kind of vehicle that would take them to refuge in the province's main city of Kerman.

"We have neither water nor food," said an old woman, whose black veil was almost white with the dust that enshrouded everyone.

But anger was beginning to rise among the survivors, livid at the sluggish rescue mission.

Amid the incessant wailing of ambulances, a van drove down what 24 hours ago was Bam's main boulevard, loaded almost to breaking point with bodies.

Helicopters crisscrossed the sky, ferrying casualties to the provincial capital, 180 kilometres away, because hospitals in Bam no longer exist.

Across the city, bulldozers ploughed mass graves in the cemetery.

As soon as the graves were dug, survivors buried their dead, foregoing the traditional Muslim rite of washing them because it was impossible to perform. As men and women watched in tears, the diggers quickly dumped earth on top.

The people of Bam will spend the night without food, without shelter, as an icy cold freezes what has become, in less than 24 hours, a ghost city.