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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iran Earthquake, Relief Aid
Aired January 02, 2004 - 06:07 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: In Iran, workers have cleared away most of the corpses from last week's devastating earthquake. The focus is now on relief efforts.
CNN's Kasra Naji joins us from Bam with the latest.
Hello -- Kasra.
KASRA NAJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, tens of thousands of survivors of last Friday's earthquake here have spent another night out in freezing cold in tents. I don't know whether you can see behind me, even the square in the middle of the town is full of tents that they have put up for the survivors of the earthquake.
Houses on both sides of the square and this side of the road, if you can see, are completely destroyed. People are living in these tents, and it's a source of concern for the authorities, because, you know, it's freezing temperatures. And in these conditions even the simplest flu or cold can prove fatal.
But the good news is that aid and relief is getting through.
And I wanted to show you what's going on behind me. It's a mobile bakery unit, and an interesting thing about this is that the flour is provided by the authorities here, but their machinery, their oven is provided by the man who owns it and who has a bakery shop in northern Iran.
He decided to do his best for the people of Bam, and he decided to put the machinery in the back of a truck and bring it here and distribute these flat breads he makes. He produced apparently some 4,000 loaves today and yesterday some 8,000. Just moments ago, they finished this, because they're going to restock in a couple of hours. People were coming here and receiving free bread.
COSTELLO: Wow!
NAJI: So, this is the kind of effort that is going on here, joint effort, and it's getting through -- Carol.
COSTELLO: That's a wonderful effort. Tell us about some of the miracle survivors that you've run across.
NAJI: That's right. In the last few days, we've been hearing people having been brought out from under the rubble alive, but we haven't quite sort of managed to stand these reports up. But yesterday, we heard that they actually brought a man out in his late- 40s.
We went to the hospital, and there is a film of that, that he's lying there, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and is shaking. And according to the doctors -- the Greek doctors who belong to Medecins du Monde, a charity of doctors from Greece, they say that this man showed all of the injuries consistent with being under the rubble for several days.
And, yes, people here say miracles do happen, and this is one of those -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, you can see him being (AUDIO GAP). Kasra Naji reporting live from Bam, Iran.
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 January 2, 2004 - 06:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Iran, workers have cleared away most of the corpses from last week's devastating earthquake. The focus is now on relief efforts.
CNN's Kasra Naji joins us from Bam with the latest.
Hello -- Kasra.
KASRA NAJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, tens of thousands of survivors of last Friday's earthquake here have spent another night out in freezing cold in tents. I don't know whether you can see behind me, even the square in the middle of the town is full of tents that they have put up for the survivors of the earthquake.
Houses on both sides of the square and this side of the road, if you can see, are completely destroyed. People are living in these tents, and it's a source of concern for the authorities, because, you know, it's freezing temperatures. And in these conditions even the simplest flu or cold can prove fatal.
But the good news is that aid and relief is getting through.
And I wanted to show you what's going on behind me. It's a mobile bakery unit, and an interesting thing about this is that the flour is provided by the authorities here, but their machinery, their oven is provided by the man who owns it and who has a bakery shop in northern Iran.
He decided to do his best for the people of Bam, and he decided to put the machinery in the back of a truck and bring it here and distribute these flat breads he makes. He produced apparently some 4,000 loaves today and yesterday some 8,000. Just moments ago, they finished this, because they're going to restock in a couple of hours. People were coming here and receiving free bread.
COSTELLO: Wow!
NAJI: So, this is the kind of effort that is going on here, joint effort, and it's getting through -- Carol.
COSTELLO: That's a wonderful effort. Tell us about some of the miracle survivors that you've run across.
NAJI: That's right. In the last few days, we've been hearing people having been brought out from under the rubble alive, but we haven't quite sort of managed to stand these reports up. But yesterday, we heard that they actually brought a man out in his late- 40s.
We went to the hospital, and there is a film of that, that he's lying there, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and is shaking. And according to the doctors -- the Greek doctors who belong to Medecins du Monde, a charity of doctors from Greece, they say that this man showed all of the injuries consistent with being under the rubble for several days.
And, yes, people here say miracles do happen, and this is one of those -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, you can see him being (AUDIO GAP). Kasra Naji reporting live from Bam, Iran.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
