[Editor's Note: The first thought that came into my mind: "Was this a natural event, or a manufactured earthquake?" The Illuminati has had the technology for decades (see http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/tectonic_weapons.html and http://www.prahlad.org/pub/bearden/scalar_wars.htm#earthquakes). The Russians could create masive earthquakes in the 1960's using Tesla technology. Remember all of those earthquakes that were going off like fire crackers in Afghanistan about a year and a half ago when the US military was fereting out the Taliban rebels from their caves? Now, Iran, one of the more choice targets for the next American Blitzkrieg, gets pounded with a devastating quake. Is it real or is it Tesla?...Ken Adachi]

By Ramita Navai in Bam, Southern Iran, and Torcuil Crichton
The Sunday Herald - UK
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/iranearthquake28dec03.shtml
Dec. 28, 2003

Rescue workers were struggling last night to reach the epicentre of the Iranian earthquake as hopes faded of finding many more people alive under the rubble that was the city of Bam.

With survivors facing their second night outdoors in sub-zero temperatures, Iranian president Mohammad Khatami described Friday's dawn earthquake as a "national tragedy" and said it was too huge for Iran to cope with alone. Yet even with an estimated 40,000 dead and many more injured, the Iranian government refused an offer of help from Israel.

Although rescue workers and equipment have flooded into south-east Iran since the earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, hit the city early on Friday, attempts to reach the disaster scene have been frustrated by transport difficulties and blocked roads.

As darkness fell last night survivors were still digging for their loved ones with their bare hands as the bodies of the dead lay stacked by the side of the road.

John Holland, operations director of the 20-strong Rapid-UK search and rescue party, said his team had been working non-stop in the 24 hours since they arrived at the scene of the disaster.

Holland said the team had checked a total of 18 buildings so far in a bid to locate survivors, but had found none. He said the earthquake had almost completely destroyed Bam, leaving only a few badly damaged buildings standing.

Speaking from the team's makeshift base on a football pitch in the heart of the city, Holland admitted that the chances of finding anyone alive were now remote. "We have not found any survivors - but we have found quite a few bodies. In this type of situation the chances of finding someone alive are quite low, to be honest. As more time goes on, obviously the chances dramatically lower."

Roads leading to the city have become jammed with emergency vehicles and people travelling to find missing relatives.

Those who made it to the city were met with scenes of utter devastation. "There is not a standing building in the city. Bam has turned into a wasteland," said Iranian interior minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari. The ancient citadel that was the centrepiece of the old town and the main attraction of Bam's tourism industry is completely destroyed.

Yesterday, few survivors were pulled from the rubble, and estimates of the injured reached 50,000.

Hundreds of bodies have already tipped into trenches hollowed out by mechanical diggers. Cemeteries were crammed to overflowing with fully clothed corpses and the stench of death was beginning to pervade the streets. Hospitals in the nearest city, Kerman, were overwhelmed and had to turn away the wounded. Iranian military planes have been mobilised to evacuate the wounded from the earthquake-hit zone to hospitals in Tehran and other cities.

Graham Payne, director of Rapid-UK, said volunteers in Iran faced the risks of aftershocks and of epidemic disease from the unburied corpses. "It's a horrendous scene. Up to half the city's population is dead, including many of the fire and ambulance workers. Most of the emergency equipment has also been destroyed . It is very hard for the rescuers to know where to begin."

Health minister Ahmed Pezeshkin has appealed for medicine and equipment. He said more foreign volunteers were not needed, because Iran was having trouble co-ordinating its efforts. Iran needed mobile X-ray machines and ventilators more than people, he said.

Water, electricity and gas supplies have been cut, and people lit fires in the street to keep warm as temperatures plummeted overnight. The International Red Cross has launched an appeal for $12.3 million.

President Bush, who earlier bran ded Iran part of an "axis of evil", said the US was ready to send aid. The European Union has pledged almost a million dollars. Britain immediately donated £150,000 to buy blankets and plastic sheeting locally and sent a rescue mission to the area early on Saturday morning. The group included seven Scottish volunteers from the International Rescue Corps base in Grangemouth with medical and rescue experience.

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