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American Morning
Iran Earthquake
Aired December 26, 2003 - 08:39 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.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Iran is asking for international help to deal with a devastating earthquake in the southeastern part of the country. It's estimated more than 2,000 people are dead, but fear the number could rise as high as 20,000.
Shirzad Bozorgmehr is live on the phone from Iran's Capitol of Tehran.
It just sounds awful just out there, Shirzad. Can you describe what's going on?
SHIRZAD BOZORGMEHR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is beginning to sound real awful. So far, confirmed dead is 2,000. And estimates are the number could go up to 20,000 and even more. Since the city of Bam (ph) is totally devastated, 90 percent of the buildings in that city are ruined, are in ruins, the hospitals included. The injured are being transported to the Capitol province, provincial Capitol of Kerman (ph), via seven helicopters and five C-130 planes, as well as road transportation. The road transportation has caused a very severe traffic jam on the Bam Kerman highway, so the police are now preventing private cars from using those roads -- that highway.
Iran has now asked for international help. Iran is asking for sniffer dogs, blood, tents, canned foods and other things. And Russia is the first to respond to Iran's request. They have two planes ready with dogs, and tents, and specialists and rescue operations. And the latest I heard was that they're waiting for Iran to give them permission to enter Iran's airspace so they can deliver this help to the quake victims.
GUPTA: Shirzad. What is the population of Bam here? Help me. Thinking 20,000...
BOZORGMEHR: It's rather small. It's an ancient city. It's about under 100,000 people, apparently. But as I said, since 90 percent of the city has been devastated, and it happened at 5 a.m. local time, most people were at home, so that is why the number of fatalities could be so high.
GUPTA: That's remarkable.
BOZORGMEHR: The city is an ancient one, founded 2500 years ago, obviously rebuilt many times. But because of that, there are no earthquake safety measures used in the buildings. So that's another reason for the expectation are a very high number of fatalities.
GUPTA: Shirzad Bozorgmehr here in Tehran, thanks for keeping us up to date. We'll be checking back with you.
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 26, 2003 - 08:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Iran is asking for international help to deal with a devastating earthquake in the southeastern part of the country. It's estimated more than 2,000 people are dead, but fear the number could rise as high as 20,000.
Shirzad Bozorgmehr is live on the phone from Iran's Capitol of Tehran.
It just sounds awful just out there, Shirzad. Can you describe what's going on?
SHIRZAD BOZORGMEHR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is beginning to sound real awful. So far, confirmed dead is 2,000. And estimates are the number could go up to 20,000 and even more. Since the city of Bam (ph) is totally devastated, 90 percent of the buildings in that city are ruined, are in ruins, the hospitals included. The injured are being transported to the Capitol province, provincial Capitol of Kerman (ph), via seven helicopters and five C-130 planes, as well as road transportation. The road transportation has caused a very severe traffic jam on the Bam Kerman highway, so the police are now preventing private cars from using those roads -- that highway.
Iran has now asked for international help. Iran is asking for sniffer dogs, blood, tents, canned foods and other things. And Russia is the first to respond to Iran's request. They have two planes ready with dogs, and tents, and specialists and rescue operations. And the latest I heard was that they're waiting for Iran to give them permission to enter Iran's airspace so they can deliver this help to the quake victims.
GUPTA: Shirzad. What is the population of Bam here? Help me. Thinking 20,000...
BOZORGMEHR: It's rather small. It's an ancient city. It's about under 100,000 people, apparently. But as I said, since 90 percent of the city has been devastated, and it happened at 5 a.m. local time, most people were at home, so that is why the number of fatalities could be so high.
GUPTA: That's remarkable.
BOZORGMEHR: The city is an ancient one, founded 2500 years ago, obviously rebuilt many times. But because of that, there are no earthquake safety measures used in the buildings. So that's another reason for the expectation are a very high number of fatalities.
GUPTA: Shirzad Bozorgmehr here in Tehran, thanks for keeping us up to date. We'll be checking back with you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
