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Quake survivors turn to heroin and prostitution, raising fears of an Aids epidemic

It was once a oasis famous for its succulent dates and ancient Persian heritage. Now, amid a desolate landscape of wrecked buildings and rubble, Bam is a byword for soaring drug abuse and an Aids problem  that threatens to become an epidemic.

The devastating earthquake that struck the historic city  in December 2003 killed an estimated 40,000 people and left thousands more without homes or shelter, prompting a massive international rescue effort.

Nearly 21/2 years on, the relief has dwindled and rebuilding is proceeding slowly, hampered by an indolence  that is the result of alarming rates of drug addiction, aid officials said.

Depressed by the trauma of multiple bereavement after the earthquake, many survivors have turned to opium - traditionally respectable and widely available in a city on the drug transit route from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

More than half the men and 15 per cent of women have been classed as addicts. Addiction has been reported among children as young as 11.

The trend has been compounded by the influx of building workers from elsewhere, many of them long-time users of heroin and other injected drugs. Their habits have spread among the indigenous population, leading to a dangerous proliferation of needles.

'Drug addiction is severely impairing reconstruction,' said a Unicef official, speaking anonymously. 'Drugs have really taken a big toll on people's motivation.'

Despite the availability of government home rebuilding grants, most people are housed in cramped temporary prefabs inside sprawling camps, which are condemned by relief workers as breeding grounds for drugs, illicit sex and other crimes.

The once-imposing 1,800-year-old citadel - a symbol of Persian power from the pre-Islamic Sassanian dynasty - is now little more than a sad pile of collapsed masonry, although a reconstruction plan does exist.

Health officials are alarmed by the threat of HIV/Aids from a nascent sex industry, promoted by the presence of outside workers separated from their families and the dire financial straits of some widowed women. So far, 20 Aids cases have been recorded.

That has prompted the state-run family planning association to challenge local taboos by distributing condoms and information packs. It has also organised street theatre dramas to communicate the dangers of unprotected sex and shared needles.

'We are trying to stop an epidemic. Bam has the potential for the number of HIV/Aids cases to rise dramatically,' said  Ali Reza Tajlili, the association's representative. 'There is a very high demand for sex outside the family framework, and it is taking place among people with very little awareness about Aids.'

The scale of the problem is evident in Black House, a run-down neighbourhood where addicts meet every night to smoke or inject heroin for about US 25 cents  a shot.

Mohammed Ali Barzegar, a 29-year-old builder from Tehran, had been an addict for five years and recently became hooked on tamjizak, a more powerful substance.

'Those using needles don't care if they are shared or dirty. They just see a needle and want to get hyper,' he said. 'My life is already destroyed. There have been times when I had money to buy food for my family, but bought drugs instead. Anyone reaching this stage should only wish for death.'

Amir Mohammad Payam,  who compiled a Unicef-backed report on Bam's crisis, said: 'After the earthquake, opium was being handed out to save the souls of survivors. There's an expression in Bam saying God provides the daily bread of the addict. When we asked some people why they became addicts, they said they were so poor that they thought God would save them by providing their daily bread if they became addicted.'

It provided no salvation for Tahereh Tabar, 32, who lost two children and saw another brain-damaged in the earthquake.

'I took opium when I was still traumatised and it made me feel better,' she said, sitting next to her son and fellow addict, Javad, 20. 'But now it has destroyed our lives. We don't have a life anymore.'



Drug addiction leaves Persian citadel in ruins