Iran battles to cope with disaster

Jim Muir BBC correspondent in Bam, Iran

Seventy per cent off all buildings in Bam were raised to the ground

This disaster is entering its fourth day.

The enormity of the challenge that lies ahead is daunting.

The scale and suddenness of the devastation means thousands of survivors have lost not only their homes, but everything else they had.

They are destitute, living on the streets because their homes are destroyed and because they are afraid aftershocks could bring down the few buildings they could shelter in.

While some have been given tents, others have spent the long cold nights simply wrapped in blankets and out in the open, or huddling around fires to keep warm.

International rescue teams are now getting ready to leave because there is precious little hope now of finding people still alive under the rubble.

Many buildings were made of mud brick, which disintegrates into tonnes of rubble and debris, leaving little hope of survival for those buried underneath.

The digging will go on though, for many people are known to be still entombed in the wreckage of the homes where they were sleeping when the earthquake struck.

As for the living, a start has been made to the immediate task of providing emergency shelter and food to the survivors.

But beyond that lies the monumental challenge of rebuilding this historic city and the lives of those who survived this disaster.