Combined field hospital established as earthquake rubble clearance begins

The Iranian Ministry of Health and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) agreed on Wednesday that field hospitals established in Bam, following the massively destructive quake that hit the city on 26 December, by teams from the Ukraine, America and the IFRC, would be combined. The new facility will eventually serve as the main referral hospital for the 250,000 survivors in Bam and the surrounding region, and will cover the hospital needs of Bam for the next year. “It’s an emergency response unit so it’s a very self sufficient hospital. We brought twelve tonnes of medicine with us and all the equipment - X-rays, ICU, an operating theatre,” Lasse Kylanpaa, an information delegate of the Finish Red Cross, told IRIN. “At this stage, we’re encouraging everyone to pool their resources,” he added. At least 30,000 people were killed in the earthquake and about 30,000 were injured - 10,000 of those were evacuated to hospitals around Iran. The UN has said that none of the three hospitals in Bam that were ruined in the earthquake will be functional in the near future - in fact it is doubtful if they will be reconstructed at all. When the 200-bed IFRC hospital opened its doors last Friday, only three patients came for treatment. Two days later that number had jumped to 300, as word spread around the city. Many patients suffer from infected wounds, although Kylanpaa told IRIN that there has been an increase in the number of respiratory infections and pneumonia, especially among children. “This is due to the weather - it’s very cold at night and some people still do not have tents. Even if they have tents, the tent itself might protect them against the sun and rain but it’s still cold at night inside,” he said. Meanwhile, as the water supply system in Bam was badly damaged, most of the latrines and sanitation facilities were destroyed. Unless this situation is resolved quickly, the UN is worried this will lead to a major health problem. The international NGO World Vision has been concentrating on two areas in and around Bam - district number 3 and a village 20km northeast of Bam called Noordeej. Noordeej was badly affected by the earthquake and before World Vision offered assistance, aid agencies had not yet arrived there. World Vision have been surveying the sanitation situation in Noordeej. They said that the latrines had sustained the least damage during the earthquake, due to the fact that they were small structures. “We want to see if their latrines can be rehabilitated - can we help people to rebuild their old ones, or do you have to dig a pit latrine while they get their houses fixed? Our job is to get people to help themselves,” Paul Sitnam, the senior relief coordinator of World Vision, told IRIN. The UN has said that removal of rubble from Bam is another major priority. At least 12 million mt of debris needs to be salvaged, removed and recycled, ideally with survivors’ consent. This process has already begun in areas around the centre of Bam. World Vision is also involved in a project where survivors will be given tools to help them clear and rebuild their former homes. Such projects could have psychological benefits as well as physical. “There’s a lot of rubble and people are just sitting on top of it, feeling very depressed,” said Sitnam. “There’s a psychological aspect to letting people work. Rebuilding their homes will help reduce the damage done in their heads,” he added. The top United Nations relief official arrived in Tehran today on his way to the earthquake-devastated Bam area, where he will join the country's authorities on Thursday in launching a Flash Appeal to the international community for US $30 million for the United Nations and US $40 million for the Red Cross. Jan Egeland, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), carried a letter from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Iranian President Mohamed Khatami pledging long-term international support for Iran's efforts to rebuild and rehabilitate Bam, according to a UN spokesman.