U.S. rescue teams are joining the massive recovery and rescue operation in the earthquake-ravaged Iranian city of Bam, as officials fear the death toll may climb as high as 40,000.
An estimated 30,000 more were wounded in Friday’s quake, leaving the region’s ill-equipped hospitals overflowing.
President Bush ordered that 150,00 pounds of medical supplies be shipped to the devastated region along with 200 search-and-rescue personnel and medical experts.
“I just talked to doctors in the earthquake zone. They are running out of supplies,” said Christoph Gorder, a New Yorker and VP of International Programs for the relief organization AmeriCares. The situation is a catastrophe of epic proportions. The hospitals are overflowing. The two hospitals in Bam are destroyed. Only emergency field hospitals are operational.
One American was killed and another injured in the Friday-morning quake as they visited the town’s 2,000-year-old citadel.
Bush administration officials stressed that U.S. assistance, and the highly unusual direct communications with Iran, will not change foreign policy toward the Middle Eastern nation.
Iran will continue to be recognized by the State Department as sponsoring terrorism. The United States is joining a host of other countries already helping in the relief effort, including Switzerland, Britain, Germany and Russia. Help from Israel was rejected by the Iranians.
Contributions to the International Response Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013, or phone (800) HELP-NOW.With Post Wire Services