James Astill
Sunday January 4, 2004
The Observer
A woman aged 97 was rescued from the earthquake rubble of her home in the Iranian city of Bam yesterday, having survived for eight days without water or food.
The woman, seen by The Observer dozing comfortably in a makeshift hospital bed, was in remarkably good shape, according to Red Cross doctors who examined her.
'She's a little dehydrated but apart from that she has no complaints at all,' said Dr Paul Odberg, chief medical co-ordinator of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) in Bam. 'She has one complaint - she doesn't like the intravenous needle.'
[ . . . ]
'We saw a hand sticking out of the rubble and assumed it belonged to a corpse,' said Abololreza Azemi. 'Then the hand started moving.'
According to Zaharen Shahyar, a Red Crescent volunteer: 'Her first words were to say that she was very cold and she asked me to hold her head to comfort her. Then she asked me for some tea.'
Mazandarani complained the tea was too hot, and asked the volunteer to spoon-feed it to her.
A team of Revolutionary Guards promptly sprang into action and reinterred the ingrate.
President Mohammad Khatami was quoted as saying, "Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch. Shainera menchen haut me gelicht in drert."
He further was heard to exclaim "Oy, this is just meshuganah! I'm such a putz!" as Guards dragged him away.