Earthquake families receive rations

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has completed mapping the devastated city of Bam into twelve districts, and nearly all families have been registered and given monthly ration cards for relief distribution. "We have a new relief distribution system in place which is mid-term - this is more regular distribution given to families instead of individuals, based on statistics of the number of people who are in the city," Mustafa Mohaghegh, the IRCS international relations coordinator, told IRIN on Sunday. Each family will receive about 12 basic items a month and a further nine items, such as tents, blankets and cooking utensils, every six months. "Our plan is to include the coordination of the international organisations and NGOs and to try and bring back normal life to the people in the city," Mohaghegh said. The official death toll in the Bam earthquake which flattened the ancient mud-brick city and its citadel has now passed 30,000, the district governor said on Saturday. "We estimate the number of dead as between 30,000 and 32,000," said regional governor Ali Shafei. But the head of Bam city council was quoted by the press as saying the figure would be much higher. "The total number of dead will be more than 50,000," Abbas Esmaeli said. "As everyone started to bury the dead in communal graves from the very first day, there was no proper record kept and so there can be no precise figure." The IRCS has also teamed up with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to implement a tracing system for missing people. The IRCS will be upgrading their existing tracing network, already in use in their 330 nationwide branches. As part of the ongoing assessment of the city, a US aid team is working closely with the UN's On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOC) to assist in assessing structural damage. Structural engineers have been surveying the buildings and ruins to see if any can be reconstructed. Up to 80 percent of the city was destroyed by the quake. On foot, the engineers have been touring section three of the city - a once residential area that was densely populated, in the southeast of Bam. "Out of 1,066 buildings not one is habitable, so it is complete devastation. We counted 350 tents in the area, and if you say there are six people per tent, that accounts for 2,100 people - there should be 6,400 people there," Peter Morris, deputy team leader of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), told IRIN. Dean Tiles, one of the structural engineers with USAID, told IRIN that in some areas the damage was 100 percent and that most of the buildings would have to be rebuilt. "It's going to take a long-term effort. They're going to have to rebuild most of the buildings - even some of the buildings that are standing, as some parts wouldn't be safe in another earthquake," he said. Thousands have fled the city in fear of more destruction, but many of the 40,000 people who survived the initial quake have been camping outside the ruins of their homes to protect what remains of their properties. The provincial judiciary said security forces have arrested 140 looters since the quake struck. Many survivors feel frustrated at their inability to get involved in the rehabilitation process. Desperately trying to get to their belongings - that are often buried too deep for them to dig out by hand - they lack the equipment needed. In response to this, USAID is proposing a system of providing tools for survivors, such as wheelbarrows and spades, to get people involved and give them a sense of purpose. "When you talk to people they really want you to ask them 'what do you want to do'," Morris said. USAID is also planning to phase out the field hospital they set up and donate the equipment to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC). Bam's three universities were very badl damaged during the earthquake, including all the student dormitories. The University of Kerman, the provincial capital 175 km northwest of Bam, have sent four representatives to assess the situation for students and, where possible, to transfer them to neighbouring institutions. So far, fifteen students have been sent to the university in Jiroft, five to the university in Zavand and others to the university in Baft. "We're liasing with universities around the province of Kerman to see if they do the same courses as the students here. We want to make sure students won't miss out on their studies," Najaf Karimi, a professor from the University of Kerman, told IRIN.