Malta aid to quake victims on its way

Over 6,000 blankets and bedding items were packed into a 20-foot container which left Malta yesterday for a city close to Bam, in Iran, where survivors are still reeling from the quake which claimed over 30,000 lives.

This voluntary initiative was coordinated by the Civil Protection Department and St John's Ambulance Brigade which called on the public to donate bedding and towels.

"We were overwhelmed by the public's generosity for the victims of the earthquake," department director Peter Cordina said.

The Red Cross in Malta is accompanying the container and handing it over to the Red Crescent in a city close to Bam, to ensure it reaches the victims.

The container, which will arrive in Iran at the end of this week, was voluntarily transported in Malta by Godwin's Garage in Hamrun.

Thomas Smith also offered the department a good shipping rate to support this voluntary work.

The quake caused such a disaster in Bam that top policymakers in Iran, alarmed by the high death toll, are considering moving the capital away from the quake-prone Tehran.

Even before the December 26 earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, seismologists had warned a strong earthquake in Tehran would be catastrophic for the city of 12 million people.