The earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale which struck the southeast Iranian city of Bam on 26 December, caused 43,000 deaths and some 30,000 injuries, making it the deadliest in the world in the last 27 years. The earthquake had a depth of some 10 km and it’s epicenter was directly below Bam city. According to the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination (UNDAC) team mission report, the earthquake destroyed 87% of the buildings in Bam city and left some 80,000 people homeless. A total of 18,000 buildings in Bam and surrounding villages were destroyed including 131 school buildings, 3 hospitals, 95 health centers, and 14 rural health clinics.

The ACT Preliminary appeal for Iran issued 3 days after the quake, saw a swift and generous response by the ACT funding members. The member-agencies participating in the appeal, the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) launched emergency relief efforts to meet immediate needs and alleviate suffering of the quake survivors. ACT members ACT Netherlands/ICCO, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), Church World Service (CWS) and NCA deployed staff into the region for needs assessment purposes. A successful field and policy level co-ordination pattern has been established among the agencies and with the ACT Co-ordinating office.

By this appeal, ACT members Hungarian Baptist Aid and Norwegian Church Aid* seek funding to sustain their emergency relief activities targeting the most vulnerable among the affected population. The projects comprise:

• emergency health services
• shelter
• water/sanitation
• psycho-social assistance etc

ACT local member the Middle East Council of Churches is reviewing its strategy for Iran and this appeal will be revised shortly to include their projects. Other ACT members, Presbyterian DA and ACT NL/ICCO working in co-operation with NCA have considerable aspirations in Iran relative to psycho-social assistance and shelter and will also participate in the appeal at a later date.

*please note that NCA’s project proposal for Iran is fully funded.

Project Completion Date:

NCA - 31 August 2004

HBAid - 31 August 2004

Signed by:
Jessie Kgoroeadira, ACT Acting Director

For full details of proposals and budgets, please click below to download a PDF file of the entire Appeal.

Iran - Bam Earthquake Relief & Rehabilitation - MEIN42 (file size: 49 Kb)

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