At the crack of dawn on December 26, 2003, a massive earthquake leveled the ancient city of Bam in Kerman province. Over 30,000 people were killed as once-vibrant neighborhoods suddenly turned into rubble. Nearly the entire infrastructure of the region, including roads, schools and hospitals, was destroyed or severely damaged. The health system was completely decimated: 122 clinics, hospitals and health houses were reduced to piles of rock and brick.
In a matter of seconds, the lives of more than 150,000 changed forever.
A year later, the struggle for rebuilding the city and recovery of lost livelihoods continues.
Of the approximately 100,000 who survived the earthquake 55,000 were injured. Almost all were made homeless. Even those whose homes withstood nature’s fury were afraid to go back indoors. The aftershocks, some severe, lasted for weeks and though the survivors began to take them in their stride, it was nightmarish for them to sleep under a roof.
The cost of the reconstruction of the city has been estimated higher than the damage inflicted. The United Nations has said reconstruction after the deadly earthquake will cost up to $1 billion.
Nearly a year and half after the earthquake, on the surface not much has changed. The mangled remains of a lost city are strewn across this once-fertile desert oasis. Debris, rubble and twisted metal girders are still piled high on every street and down every alley, almost untouched since the earthquake struck. Around them are date trees and a few half collapsed buildings stubbornly standing and tilting precariously.

Many travelers claimed Bam Citadel was a wonder of the Middle East.

Starting From Scratch
The devastation that still litters Bam is not a sign that it has been abandoned, but an indication of the magnitude of the natural disaster and the colossal task of rebuilding a city from scratch. The quake left three out of four of the city’s 100,000 residents homeless; injured at least 50,000 people and created more than 5,000 orphans.
Locals complain the rebuilding process is going slower than expected.
While the rubble is painstakingly cleared to some extent, the survivors must live in limbo, housed in temporary shelters with no idea of when they will be able to settle into a more stable, secure life.
More than a year later, the flattened city is still dotted with tents as well as thousands of white box-like prefabricated buildings. Families of up to eight squeezed into a room measuring six by four meters will live in these temporary shelters until the city is rebuilt.
There are indeed signs of reconstruction throughout the city. According to official figures, about 5 percent of the houses have been rebuilt.
According to the UN, approximately 25,000 houses were destroyed in the city while another 24,000 homes were damaged or destroyed in the rural areas. Some reports say that the reconstruction of the city could take up to two years. They have proven wrong. For most people of Bam, the city will never be the same again.
The city’s reconstruction more than a year after the devastating tremor is progressing slowly, with the historic citadel looking like it’s been hit by heavy artillery.

About 5 percent of BamÕs houses have been rebuilt.

Outside Help
The World Bank has approved a $220 million loan to the government for a project to help restore the living conditions of communities in the city.
The Bam Earthquake Emergency Reconstruction Project was prepared in response to the Iranian government’s request to support its reconstruction efforts.
The four-year project will help restore housing in Bam with improved safety standards, reducing their vulnerability to future earthquakes. In addition, it will finance the rehabilitation and reconstruction of telecommunication and transport infrastructure including the highway linking Bam to the provincial capital of Kerman, airport facilities and village streets. While the project focuses mainly on physical reconstruction, it will also seek to improve the city’s preparedness for emergencies by ensuring that existing strategic public buildings are strengthened to become earthquake-resistant.
The Islamic Development Bank will also allocate an additional $201-million loan for reconstruction programs in Bam.

More Loans, Grants
According to Iran Labor News Agency, the government says it would have completed 25,000 residential units, 4,000 commercial centers and 35,000 square meters of administrative offices in the city by March 2007.
So far, the government has handed out 60 million rials and 45 million rials as loans to every affected family in urban and rural areas respectively for construction of residential units in addition to another 35 million rials and 15 million rials as grants.
Last year, 2,000 million rials were handed out to various organizations for reconstructing the city’s infrastructures.
Managing Director of Bam’s Reconstruction Office Majid Joudi says from March 2004-05, more than 2,340 people in the cities of Bam and Baravat as well as nearby villages were placed in new residential units.
More than 9,593 people have referred to the office for compilation of architectural maps and nearly 4,700 have already received construction permits from the municipality.
During the same period, 2,207 urban residents and 9,547 rural residents received grants worth 45 million rials and 15 million rials and construction operations for 2,784 houses in Bam have already started. By March 2006, construction of 20,000 residential units in quake-hit rural areas will be finished.

Shattered Economy
Two major sources of income for Bam were the tourism trade and dates that hung heavy from the palm trees. Thousands of tourists a year would come to Bam to get lost in the labyrinthine alleys of its deserted walled citadel. Over 2,000 years old, many travelers claimed it was a wonder of the Middle East. With most of it crumbled into dust now, apart from parts of the old fortress, it resembles a giant mud pit.
The people in Bam are worried about their future. Certainly most of the survivors have resigned themselves to the fact that their lives have been irrevocably changed.
The Bam tragedy underscores the need for increased attention to disaster prevention and risk reduction.
There is a need to pay more attention to essential buildings and key infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals.
Basic structures should be made from earthquake-resistant reinforced concrete with a solid foundation. The most important thing is that the structure of future buildings should be of good quality.

Expectations of change are part and parcel of the Iranian New Year (started March 20) and Nowrouz celebrations. Welcoming the spring starts with sprucing up homes almost simultaneously everywhere to shake-off the old and usher in the new.
Similarly, the Iranian economy has also been dying for a major shake-up, but several new years have come and gone without major changes. However, it seems like the year 2005 might finally give the chance to the domestic economy to see some positive outcomes.
There have certainly been major changes around the world during the past several years. The 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001 in a way changed history. Under the new circumstances winds of change spread across the Middle East, particularly to the north of Iran and the changes are now speedily moving towards the east and west of the country as well.
To the south of Iran a small and insignificant country such as Dubai has managed to take away the greatest advantage of the Iranian nation, which is business, and its precious assets, which are its businessmen. This unfortunately is happening as the country is not giving businessmen their due place in the economy. Iraq and Afghanistan had an uncertain economic perspective until recently but after their successful elections they are now both striving for a brighter future.
The world today is fundamentally different from the one the Iranian revolutionaries had in mind in 1979. This particular point makes it clear that economic and cultural relations in this new world are totally different from those back then. Thankfully, the general spirit of such thoughts and fact has become intertwined with the 20-Year Perspective and the Fourth Development Plan.
Under the 20-Year Perspective, Iran aims to emerge as a dominant economic power in the region in the next two decades. To achieve such a huge ambition, no other issue is more important than bridging the gap that has been created between Iran and certain countries such as the United Arab Emirates. This has to be done as soon as possible because it is the only way that can guarantee a higher annual economic growth as compared to the rest of the region.
To implement such economic growth there is urgent need to overhaul the entire economy. Such an economic jump has been approved and facilitated by the State Expediency Council’s ratifications. There are bright prospects due to such ratifications. The only problem is that the ratification of the amendments to Article 44 has not managed to design a suitable mechanism to kick-start a major shift towards economic change. But this issue could be resolved with the ninth presidential elections.
The experience of the past suggests that it is not enough to simply make amendments and hope that every thing would turn out fine in the end. Such moves will be effective only if they are properly executed.