and medical care" as another tremor struck this ancient Iranian city, already devastated by last month’s earth quake.
"The people of Bam still desperately need our help as they begin to recover from the earthquake’s devastation," said National Director Jill Hawkey of Christian World Service (CWS), a relief agency backed by New Zealand churches.
Hawkey’s statement obtained by BosNewsLife came as the official Iranian News Agency, IRNA, quoted seismologists as saying that the city was struck by another serious aftershock, measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale, on Sunday morning.
It came as a major shock for the city, where more than 30,000 people have been confirmed killed in the December 26 earth quake that also left the same number injured and tens of thousands of Iranians homeless.
TENT CITY
With nearly all survivors living in tents, there were no immediate reports of any casualties directly linked to the latest tremor. But one "miracle" survivor, a 57-year-old man pulled out alive from the rubble of his home 13 days after the initial, massive, quake has died, IRNA said Sunday, January 11.
The agency reported that Jalil Shahinaki, who slipped into a deep coma after being pulled from the rubble on Wednesday, January 7, by an Iranian search and rescue team died overnight in a field hospital in Bam.
That underscored concern among Christian relief workers about survivors of the massie quake, who CWS’s Hawkey said are "facing bitterly cold temperature of -10 degrees Celsius overnight", amid a need for "adequate shelter…one of the most urgent priorities."
IGNORED INJURIES
In addition "we have been told that many survivors seen by the medical team had been ignoring their smaller injuries and were happy just to be alive, yet after a few days had realized they needed medical attention," added Hawkey.
That is why already "10,000s of cans of food have been airlifted in for emergency food rations along with hundreds of tents and medical supplies that will serve 100,000 people for three months," CWS said.
Hawkey stressed that CWS partners have been providing medical services which "treated several hundred people over the last few days. Some of them were badly injured, some of them suffering from pneumonia made worse by freezing temperatures at night."
TRAUMA COUNSELLING
As people seek to rebuild their lives CWS partners will be offering trauma counseling, the organization said. Hundreds of people have also come for treatment in what has become known as Bam’s "Baptist Hospital" run by Baptist Christians from Hungary and other nations.
In addition the New Zealand branch of World Vision, a major Christian aid organization, began completing distributing tents, soap, plastic sheeting and water containers through an Iranian partner organization, ANS monitored Saturday, January 10.
"2,000 blankets, 20 tents, 1,000 collapsible water containers, 1,500 pieces of plastic sheeting and 1,000 pieces of soap from World Vision were already hand over," said the organization’s Relief Director Ton van Zutphen in an earlier interview.
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
An Iranian cooperative has also distributed tins of tuna in the district in an effort to alleviate the situation, he added. Several Christian relief organizations are also closely working with with Iraqi Christians, many of whom have been persecuted for their faith, BosNewsLife learned earlier.
Washington temporarily allowed assistance to Iran, although American President George W. Bush has described the country as being part of an Axis of Evil, his term for states that allegedly support terrorism and weapons of mass destruction programs.
However Tehran has made clear it will not change its policy toward the United States amid reports that the non elected conservative Islamic council has prevented many reformist politicians of joining upcoming elections.
NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY
In addition Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami called on the United States on Sunday, January 11, to accept Tehran’s right to develop nuclear technology "for peaceful purposes if it wants to see an improvement in ties between the two countries," the Reuters news agency reported.
And in a sign of growing tensions over Iran’s alleged support for terrorist organizations Israel has said that Syrian planes flying earthquake relief aid to Iran returned with weapons for Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi called the accusation a "baseless and a sheer lie," Reuters said.
