I visited Iran in 2001 and together with roughly 15 students and my collegue and Chairperson at that time, we managed to see some seven cities within 15 days. We were Iranian governments guests and their cultural ministry took care of all our logistics.
I was going through the pictures of that trip when I came across the photos that we took in BAM and ARG-BAM. Unfortunately, last year a devastating earthquake wipedout almost the entire city together with the citadel of Arg- Bam. Some 20,000 people lost their lives due to that earthquake. It was indeed a painful news and moreso because I had been to that place which was transformed into rubble by those tremors; this is indeed a grim reminder of man’s helplessness in front of God.
Heritage site (BBC News)
Bam - about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south-east of Tehran - was on the Unesco’s list of World Heritage Sites.
An important regional centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, it contained many ancient buildings that were not built to withstand earthquakes.
Its 2,000-year-old mud-brick citadel is reported to have been destroyed.
Since 1991, tremors have claimed some 17,600 lives and injured 53,000 people, according to official figures
One of the photos I took of the citadel, Arge Bam
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