Update: Bam
Overwhelmed rescue crews picked through entire city blocks of rubble in search for survivors and bodies a day after an earthquake ruined this southeast Iranian city. With the death toll in the thousands, Iran appealed for international help and promised to waive visas for foreign relief workers.
The scope of the tragedy was so vast that a reliable death toll was impossible to pin down so soon after the magnitude 6.5 quake hit Bam early Friday. The Interior Ministry’s early estimate on Saturday was 20,000 dead, while two leading rescue officials said the toll could eventually double.
“As more bodies are pulled out, we fear that the death toll may reach as high as 40,000. An unbelievable human disaster has occurred,” said Akbar Alavi, the governor of the city of Kerman, the provincial capital.
20,000 people! That’s nearly 10 percent of the population in the region.
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