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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iran Earthquake: The Emotional Toll
Aired December 29, 2003 - 05:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Just a minute ago, we told you about the enormous numbers connected to the Iran earthquake story. But beyond the numbers, what's the emotional toll?
CNN's Kasra Naji is in Bam and he joins us live via videophone with the latest.
Hello, Kasra.
KASRA NAJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it's more than 72 hours since the earthquake at this ancient town of some 200,000 people. Obviously hopes are fading fast of finding anybody alive from under the rubble. But rescue workers have not given up hope. Iranian and international teams are here - searching and rescuing are still at work. Here in the town, as you drive through, you can see them here and there, working their way through the rubble, occasionally finding people alive. But mostly they're getting dead bodies out.
But according to the U.N. coordinator here, who is coordinating the international effort - he says that today, one of the international teams here, found a 14-year-old girl alive from the - under the rubble. And yesterday, Iranian workers had found three. So still, they're finding people alive from under the rubble. But obviously, hopes are fading fast.
In the town, as you drive, it's a very grim situation. But the most telling, most grim site is of the cemetery here, where they are burying people in mass graves, so high is the number of the dead. They are wrapped in white shrouds, according to Islamic rules, and they're quickly buried as soon as is possible, according to Islamic rules. And they're - Iranian Shiite clergyman reading the last rites for them very quickly, because so much pressure is on them to bury them as quickly as possible - Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand that there are Americans in Iran. Can you tell us what they're doing?
NAJI: Yes, absolutely.
Americans have been sending medical supplies and other aid with airplanes here. We know for a fact that there have been two of them already. But today - yesterday, we had the actual rescue team arriving - American rescue teams in American uniforms. This is the first time for many years that between these two adversaries - Americans in official capacity are coming here to help. This is the extent of the tragedy, it's the depth of the tragedy that has brought these two countries, adversaries, close together - Americans happy to give and Iranians happy to receive. So it's a departure in terms of relations between Iran and the United States on the back of this tragedy - Carol.
COSTELLO: Kasra Naji, reporting live from Bam, Iran, this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 29, 2003 - 05:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Just a minute ago, we told you about the enormous numbers connected to the Iran earthquake story. But beyond the numbers, what's the emotional toll?
CNN's Kasra Naji is in Bam and he joins us live via videophone with the latest.
Hello, Kasra.
KASRA NAJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it's more than 72 hours since the earthquake at this ancient town of some 200,000 people. Obviously hopes are fading fast of finding anybody alive from under the rubble. But rescue workers have not given up hope. Iranian and international teams are here - searching and rescuing are still at work. Here in the town, as you drive through, you can see them here and there, working their way through the rubble, occasionally finding people alive. But mostly they're getting dead bodies out.
But according to the U.N. coordinator here, who is coordinating the international effort - he says that today, one of the international teams here, found a 14-year-old girl alive from the - under the rubble. And yesterday, Iranian workers had found three. So still, they're finding people alive from under the rubble. But obviously, hopes are fading fast.
In the town, as you drive, it's a very grim situation. But the most telling, most grim site is of the cemetery here, where they are burying people in mass graves, so high is the number of the dead. They are wrapped in white shrouds, according to Islamic rules, and they're quickly buried as soon as is possible, according to Islamic rules. And they're - Iranian Shiite clergyman reading the last rites for them very quickly, because so much pressure is on them to bury them as quickly as possible - Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand that there are Americans in Iran. Can you tell us what they're doing?
NAJI: Yes, absolutely.
Americans have been sending medical supplies and other aid with airplanes here. We know for a fact that there have been two of them already. But today - yesterday, we had the actual rescue team arriving - American rescue teams in American uniforms. This is the first time for many years that between these two adversaries - Americans in official capacity are coming here to help. This is the extent of the tragedy, it's the depth of the tragedy that has brought these two countries, adversaries, close together - Americans happy to give and Iranians happy to receive. So it's a departure in terms of relations between Iran and the United States on the back of this tragedy - Carol.
COSTELLO: Kasra Naji, reporting live from Bam, Iran, this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
