IRAN: Iran's supreme leader vowed yesterday to return the ancient quake-shattered city of Bam to its former glory, as rescuers wound down the search for survivors of Friday's disaster which killed up to 30,000 people.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in the Islamic Republic of 66 million people, flew to Bam, 600 miles south-east of the capital, Tehran, and pledged to rebuild the city.
"We share your sorrow. Those lost are our children. We will rebuild Bam stronger than before," he said, addressing a crowd in one of the city's devastated squares.
In a rare moment of joy, officials said a six-month-old girl had been rescued from the rubble of a flattened building.
The infant, Nassim, was found in the arms of her dead mother. Rescuers said her mother's embrace had shielded the child from falling debris and saved her life.
The quake was the world's worst in at least a decade.
Aid offers have poured in from around the globe, including from the United States, which severed relations with Iran a quarter of a century ago.
But with some 25,000 victims already buried and virtually no habitable buildings left standing in Bam, survivors were leaving the city in droves.
Mr Sohrab Mohammadabadi (46), who works as a driver, had packed a refrigerator, luggage and carpets on top of his car. "My house has been destroyed. I'm going to Rostamabad, about three kilometres away, to stay with relatives," he said.
As darkness fell on the city, people huddled around open fires in front of the rubble where their homes once stood. Street lights illuminated patches of the city as power began to return.
Ms Tahereh Taherian, a 45-year-old housewife, said she had lost 60 family members in the quake. "God is testing us," she said. "I'm thanking God because one of our sons has been left alive."
Many international rescue teams had begun packing up their sophisticated equipment by last night, concluding that no one could still be alive beneath the ravaged city.
"The first phase is over," said Mr Thomas Krimm, spokesman of Germany's THW disaster relief organisation.
"That means the search-and- rescue teams are winding down their activities, although they are ready to engage if they get new indications from the local population. It's just that the chance of finding someone alive is steadily falling."
Round-the-clock relief efforts have been hindered by piles of bodies in the streets, overflowing cemeteries, bitterly cold nights, rain, aftershocks and looting.
"I believe the [death] toll will reach 30,000," said a government official. Aid workers put the number of homeless at more than 100,000.