Turkey sets up tent city in Iran’s quake-hit city

Selahattin Durmaz of the Prime Ministry’s Crisis Management Center, responsible for the coordination of Turkish aid efforts in Bam, signed a protocol on Thursday with Iranian authorities on the establishment of the tent city, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Turkey, which shares a border with Iran and is also prone to disastrous earthquakes, has dispatched medical teams and humanitarian supplies to the scene.

Turkish teams are also expected to set up an area of prefabricated houses in Bam to provide temporary accommodation for up to 7,000 people.

Most of the prefabricated houses that are being dispatched to Iran are those that were provided for victims of a devastating quake that hit northwestern Anatolia in 1999.

Ministers to arrive today
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin, State Minister Kursat Tuzmen and Health Minister Recep Akdag are scheduled today to visit the ancient city that is now largely destroyed by the powerful earthquake.

In addition to extending Turkey’s solidarity, the ministers will also explore areas where additional Turkish assistance may be of use in their talks with Iranian authorities.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had to postpone a visit scheduled to take place on Friday after it was understood that his counterpart, Kamal Kharrazi, would not be in Tehran on that day.

Most of the Turkish aid team in Iran consists of search-and-rescue workers and humanitarian aid teams from the Turkish Red Crescent Society (Kizilay).

Five search-and-rescue workers departed Bam on Thursday with the news that no hope remained of finding survivors in the rubble. Some of the workers had already left Iran several days earlier.