You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Iran
Quake toll may hit 30,000
2003-12-29
As rescue efforts enter their fourth day in the southeastern Iranian city of Bam, officials say the toll could reach 30,000 and that disease is now a threat.
"Mene mene tekel upharsin..."
Alain Pasche, a member of a UN rescue coordination team, said on Monday operations to find survivors of the devastating earthquake would last for at least one more day. More than 2000 people have been pulled alive from rubble, said the head of the Iranian Red Crescent rescue operations, Bijan Daftari. "The search to find more people alive is continuing with the help of domestic and foreign rescue workers using sniffer dogs," he told the state news agency IRNA. But rescuers said they were no longer finding survivors - only the mangled remains of people killed when the world's most lethal quake in at least a decade levelled much of the ancient Silk Road city.
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#4  Fox is reporting that at least three "corpses" started moving during their funeral processions! Remind me not to be buried in Iran.

I watched a special ("The Day They Died"?) on the History Channel earlier this weekend that mentioned George Washington no less specified in his will that he be laid out after death for three days before being buried as he understandably had a fear of being buried alive, which wasn't as uncommon back then (1799) as we'd like to think.

At least in modern times in America you are guaranteed to be dead--if you weren't before the autopsy, you will be during!
Posted by: Dar   2003-12-29 4:59:45 PM  

#3  AP, not just the mud-brick walls, but the type of roof:
The traditional sun-dried, mud-brick construction of houses doomed many occupants, as it has for centuries in quake-prone Iran. Heavy roofs, often sealed with cement or plaster to keep out rain, sit atop mud-brick walls that have no support beams.

In the Kobe quake in Japan, the older traditional wooden houses had heavy tile roofs. Designed to protect against typhoon winds, when they shook, the walls failed and the roofs dropped down on the sleeping residents. Then, the fires finished off the survivors.
Posted by: Steve   2003-12-29 3:38:57 PM  

#2  Probably not much wood in the region, though.
Posted by: Pete Stanley   2003-12-29 3:29:10 PM  

#1  I would imagine that mud brick walls break apart completely, which is pretty unforgiving to persons trapped beneath the pile. Other types of structural walls, such a wood framed or reinforced concrete block would give people a greater chance of survival.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-12-29 3:02:07 PM  

00:00