Iran's ambassador has thanked Canadians for opening their hearts and wallets to
the victims of the earthquake in the city of Bam. Officials now estimate the quake
killed up to 50,000 people, making it one of the decade's worst natural disasters.
"I would like to thank the Canadian government for their support in this
difficult time and in particular the endeavours by the Canadian public, including
the Iranian community, who are doing their best to help the people of Bam in
this situation," Dr. Mohammad-Ali Mousavi said Tuesday in a telephone interview
from Ottawa.
"The scale of devastation is so huge and the tragedy is so big that it
needs all assistance possible from every corner of the world."
By Tuesday morning, Canadians had donated nearly $600,000 through the Canadian
Red Cross for the people of Bam -- the epicentre of a quake that has left an
estimated 100,000 homeless and 30,000 hospitalized.
Quebecers pledged $210,000 while $136,000 came from Ontario, $29,000 from Western
Canada and $8,000 from Atlantic Canada. Another $215,000 came from online contributions
which could not be immediately traced.
More money is expected to be collected Friday in mosques across Canada.
The Canadian government has donated $1.3 million through the Canadian International
Development Agency to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies.
A Canadian military transport plane carrying 16 tonnes of equipment including
generators, blankets, tents, water purification systems and body bags arrived
Monday in Bam.
Shoddy buildings blamed for deaths
Bahram Akasheh, a geophysics professor at Tehran University, says poor design
and widely ignored building codes were prime causes of the high death rate in
the Bam quake.
Akasheh says there are building codes in Iran but they are not followed and
no one enforces them.
President Mohammad Khatami said Tuesday there would be an inquiry and anyone
who had violated state codes would be punished.
"We will investigate the houses which were built in recent years, especially
government buildings," Khatami said. "These buildings shouldn't have
collapsed. Those who are to blame will be seriously punished."
Friday's 6.6-magnitude quake reduced 80 per cent of the mud-brick buildings
in Bam to powder, killing many inside instantly and leaving tens of thousands
without homes.
The death toll from the quake is expected to rise as high as 50,000, which
would make it the most lethal natural disaster of recent times.
"If we consider that, on average, five people lived in each house, we
can say the death toll will reach 50,000," a senior Interior Ministry official
told Reuters on Tuesday.
So far, about 28,000 bodies have been recovered. But many of the outlying villages
have not yet been fully searched by rescuers.
Six of Iran's Arab Gulf neighbours have offered $524 million Cdn to help restructure
Bam, which is known as the world's largest medieval mud fortress.
As for Washington, which has labelled Iran as part of an "axis of evil",
it has sent several planeloads of medical and humanitarian supplies and relief
experts to Tehran. The U.S. military planes were the first to land in Iran since
the 1981 hostage crisis in which 52 Americans were held for 444 days at the
U.S. embassy.
Khatami said Tuesday the U.S. aid, while welcome, would not alter the state
of relations between the two foes, who broke off ties nearly a quarter century
ago.
