Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution)
International rescue workers hacked desperately through flattened debris for survivors and cemeteries overflowed in Iran's ancient Silk Road city of Bam on Saturday after an earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people.
President Bush, who once branded Iran part of an "axis of evil" developing weapons of mass destruction, as well as other world leaders rushed to offer whatever help they could to the Islamic Republic.
Many people were still pinned under the rubble of the shattered city of 80,000, their prospects of survival diminishing with the passing of time. Homeless survivors awoke from a piercingly cold night huddled under woolen blankets to find a city without water and power.
President Mohammad Khatami has admitted Iran cannot cope on its own. The official IRNA news agency quoted Iran's Interior Ministry as saying assistance would be welcome from every corner of the globe other than Israel.
Two senior officials involved in the relief operation said they feared the final toll from Friday's temblor could be 40,000 dead.
The leader of a relief team, Ahmad Najafi, said 40,000 dead was his estimate of the ultimate toll. He said in one street alone in Bam on Saturday, 200 bodies had been extracted from the rubble in one hour's work.
"As more bodies are pulled out, we fear that the death toll may reach as high as 40,000," said Akbar Alavi, the governor of Kerman city, the local provincial capital. "An unbelievable human disaster has occurred."
The quake also destroyed much of Bam's historic landmark -- a giant medieval fortress complex of towers, domes and walls, all made of mud-brick, overlooking a walled Old City, parts of which date back 2,000 years. Television images showed the highest part of the fort -- including its distinctive square tower -- crumbled like a sand castle down the side of the hill, though some walls still stood.
