On
26th December 2003, an earthquake measuring 6.51 on the Richter scale
struck the city of Bam and its surrounding villages in Kerman province,
situated in south-eastern of Iran, approximately 850 kms from Tehran.
The city of Bam is famous for its 2,500 year old ancient citadel, the
oldest mud building in the world. It also produces the famous Bam Dates
of Iran. Most buildings in the affected area were sundried brick
masonry constructions which could not withstand the earthquake.
Although the impact of the earthquake seemed to be limited to a
relatively small area of about 16 km in radius, the damage was
catastrophic.
The
earthquake killed 26,000 people, rendered more than 75,000 people
homeless and severely damaged or destroyed about 85% of the houses,
commercial units, health facilities and administrative buildings in the
city of Bam and surrounding villages. The 2,500 year old historic
citadel of Bam (Arg-e-Bam), an internationally known heritage site and
an important source of income for Bam's tourist industry, was
destroyed.
Emergency Medical Relief
 48
hours from the moment the earthquake hit Bam, MERCY Malaysia responded
by sending in an Emergency Assessment Team. Our first emergency medical
team, equipped with much needed supplies of anaesthetic drugs, third
generation antibiotics and bone fixators, left on New Year's eve of
2004 for Iran. Soon after, they began to work in a field hospital set
up by the Italian Civil Defence in the suburb of Baravat, 13 km from
Bam city.
 Together
with Iranian doctors from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education,
MERCY Malaysia continued to run the field hospital until April 2004.
With a high case load of approximately 175 patients per day, MERCY
Malaysia's volunteers treated close to 18,000 patients in Baravat. A
total of nine missions were deployed.
Mental Health Support
MERCY
Malaysia implemented two core programmes in the area of Mental Health
Intervention. With almost one in five people dead, the disaster touched
the lives of almost everybody in Bam and Baravat.
Our
mental health volunteers conducted tent visits, and through
interpreters, engaged each individual in direct one-to-one debriefing
sessions. Approximately 400 patients were seen during our tent visits,
and 87 of them were treated further in follow-up visits.
 This
preventive approach was supplemented by our psychological outpatient
clinic which saw between three to five patients each day, most of them
being follow-up patients returning from the previous tent visits and
referrals from the outpatient department of our Field Hospital. In
total, 236 patients were treated during these sessions.
In
addition, our teams also conducted several short programmes which
included a group debriefing session in Bam, training of Iranian mental
health professionals, a drawing and story telling session at a girls'
school, a football match and clowning session at a boys' school, and a
debriefing session for two kindergartens, all in Baravat.
A
psychosocial programme was also conducted at a child day care centre,
where biscuits and milk were given to the children as nutritional
supplement, as well as an incentive for them to participate. In June
2004, MERCY Malaysia successfully handed over the mental health support
facilities to the Iranian Social Welfare Organisation.
Distribution of Food and Non Food Items
During
the mission in Baravat, MERCY Malaysia also carried out various
distribution programmes to aid the affected population. These included
distribution of food and nonfood items, hygiene packs, and a Qurban
project, with sheep donated by Yayasan Al-Bukhary.
Reconstruction Project -Bam Health Centre
 As
the health infrastructure was virtually destroyed in the earthquake,
MERCY Malaysia on 18th February 2004, signed a Memorandum of Agreement,
pledging a total of RM1million to the Social Security Organisation
(SSO) for the rebuilding of a Health Centre in Bam. This project will
serve the health needs of the community, and will be the only health
centre in the city of Bam.
 The
SSO has undertaken to acquire land, equip, furnish and staff the Health
Centre, which is expected to be between 1,000-1,500 square metres in
size. With the fulfilment of all the necessary pre-construction
requirements, a groundbreaking ceremony was conducted in December 2004,
marking the moment of commencement of the City of Bam Health Centre
project.
Bam Health Centre was completed and launched in December 2005.
In
summary, MERCY Malaysia sent a total of 61 volunteers, EXCO members and
staff who contributed approximately 8,000 volunteer hours for our Bam
Earthquake Relief project.
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