News
HRH visits the Iranian city of Bam after the devastating earthquake
9th February 2004
The Prince of Wales visited the Iranian city of Bam to witness the devastation left behind by the powerful earthquake which struck the area just over a month ago.
His Royal Highness visited the ancient city to see the extent of the damage and meet aid workers battling to help survivors in his role as President of the British Red Cross.
Walking through the dusty roads lined with piles of rubbish from the flattened houses in Baravat on the outskirts of the city, The Prince passed rows of tents which local people have been forced to use as makeshift accommodation.
His Royal Highness also saw the gaping holes in the streets where the ground had collapsed into old underground water canals which feed the city‘s date trees.
Near the doorways of the handout tents of the Iranian Red Crescent, a counterpart of the British Red Cross, people cooked in pots on the floor while children kicked footballs and played as they attempted to carry on as normal.
In the nearby orchard where dates are normally harvested, one woman told The Prince she was left with nothing when her house crumbled, killing her son.
As His Royal Highness walked through the area surveying the damage, other locals crowded around to tell him of their suffering.
One man explained how the dates could not be harvested because too many of the farmers had died.
Around 70 per cent of Bam‘s people rely on date palms for their livelihood, but the underground water system, or qanat, which feeds the trees has been destroyed.
In a message to the people of Bam and to the locals who gathered closely around him, The Prince said through his interpreter: “Would you tell them that my people in Britain are very concerned and they‘re praying for the Iranian people.”
An estimated 42,000 people perished and more than 30,000 were injured in the quake which happened in the early hours of Boxing Day and registered 6.7 on the Richter scale.
The epicentre was directly below Bam which is located in Iran‘s south-eastern Kerman Province.
His Royal Highness went on to visit the historic citadel which dominated the city but which was also left in ruins.
The Prince was shown plans for rebuilding the citadel, and images of what it had looked like before, by the head of the reconstruction team, Mohammad Hasson Talebian.
The Prince then took a tour of the Red Cross Federation Hospital where casualties of the earthquake are treated in white tarpaulin tents.
Three hospitals in Bam, 95 health centres and 14 clinics were destroyed in the disaster. Thirteen international field hospitals have been set up by aid workers.
The Prince also met British Red Cross workers who were helping to co-ordinate the aid programme and was shown the large logistics tent where supplies are stockpiled before being delivered to survivors.
Relief workers have distributed more than 100,000 tents, 380,000 blankets and 65,000 plastic sheets to the victims of the earthquake.
The Prince also expressed his condolences to Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, when he paid a courtesy call to the head of state in the capital city of Tehran earlier in the day.
Last week His Royal Highness attended a seminar held at St. James's' Palace to address the relief effort for the victims of the Bam Earthquake.