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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
IRAN-IRAN: Earthquake needs assessment under way
ANKARA, 29 December 2003 (IRIN) - Efforts are now under way to assess the humanitarian needs of tens of thousands of residents impacted by Friday's devastating earthquake in the southeastern Iranian city of Bam in which at least 20,000 people died.
"We are now entering the next phase, which is humanitarian relief," Ted Pearn, a member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team told IRIN from Bam. While there had still been some rare instances of people being pulled out alive from under the rubble, the rescue phase had all but finished, he said.
Pearn's comments come three days after a quake - measuring between 6.3 and 6.7 on the Richter scale - ripped through the ancient city in the early hours of Friday, leaving some 70,000 people homeless and at least 20,000 dead. Iranian authorities reported that they had buried 18,000 dead by Monday afternoon. The death toll could rise much higher as information from outlying villages affected by the quake reaches authorities.
Working in close collaboration with the Iranian authorities, the UNDAC team has already established reception centres at the Kerman and Bam airports, where international teams were being registered and forwarded to the On Sight Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC), where most teams, comprising some 1,700 rescue workers and support staff, were based.
The UNDAC team, which arrived in the early hours of Saturday, was now assessing sanitation, food, water and shelter needs, Pearn explained, adding that UNDAC hoped to have a more accurate picture of the situation by Monday evening.
"We will be in a better position to put forward to the various organisations and donors the requirements and needs on the ground once our teams are properly debriefed this evening [Monday]," he said.
One area of primary concern was whether there were sufficient medical facilities to provide for the thousands of injured. "Most of the injured have been taken out of the area to surrounding hospitals," the UN official said, noting that health facilities in the immediate area of Bam had been severely damaged.
And while there appeared to be no lack of qualified medical staff on the ground, there were logistical questions over whether enough drugs and equipment were in place, making coordination a major concern in what was being described as a "considerable" relief operation. "It's possibly not a case of having enough hands on, but having the resources to deal with it," Pearn asserted.
Such concern was echoed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), which is working closely with the Iranian government on ensuring that aid reaches those who need it most. "The coordination of relief effort is now the main challenge. During these difficult times, we are assisting the authorities who, along with the Iranian Red Crescent, are organising relief operations on the ground," Madeleine Moulin, an OCHA spokeswoman, told IRIN from Geneva.
Yet another major area of concern was whether temporary shelters - ranging from tents to makeshift shelters made from materials reclaimed from the rubble - would be adequate, given the extremes in temperature obtaining in the area, often dropping below zero at night. Regarding the likelihood of a displaced persons' camp being established in the vicinity, Pearn said: "It is a very strong possibility that they [the government] will have to introduce some form of displaced persons' camp," given the thousands made homeless by the quake.
Meanwhile, with regard to access to food and water, he said: "We know there is distribution going on [food and water], but we want to ensure that it's meaningful and right across the board." He noted that electricity and water supplies were being restored. "The Iranian authorities are really pulling out all the stops here," he said.
Describing the situation on the ground as somewhat chaotic, due to the sheer the magnitude of the emergency, he noted that people were working together, with the authorities, and doing a very good job.
"In consultation with the authorities, we are zoning the areas, not only for search and rescue but for humanitarian aid," he said, adding that UNDAC would now be waiting to hear from the Iranian authorities what they required for the next phase.
Theme(s): (IRIN) Natural Disasters
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003
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