Bam remembers quake victims

People from Bam and the surrounding region are to converge on cemeteries where loved ones were hastily buried after the earthquake that measured up to 6.7 on the Richter scale and reduced the town's magnificent citadel to rubble.

It came in the night, surprising the 90,000 population as they were sleeping. According to Bam's governor, 31,884 people were killed and 18,000 injured, while UNICEF says that up to 10,000 children lost their lives.

On Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, thousands of people dressed in black had already gathered in the Behesht Zahra cemetery, crying with pain and reciting verses from the Koran on the graves of their departed loved ones.

Survivors have spent the year trying to rebuild their lives but are now hanunted by the bitter sensation that the authorities have forgotten their cause.

Many inhabitants express fury at the slowness of the reconstruction process, with their city still in ruins. Tens of thousands of people are still living in pre-fabricated accommodation on the outskirts.

Meanwhile, worries are mounting about illicit trading that has germinated amid the social chaos created by the earthquake. "There remain concerns of trafficking of every kind," said Frederick Lyons of the United Nations.

On the traditional route for trafficking drugs from neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan, there has been no let-up in activity. There have even been rumours of organ smuggling and trafficking children for prostitution.