<P class=MsoNormal dir=rtl style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align=left><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Pres. Khatamisurveys Bam status personally for 3rd time</SPAN></B></P>

Bam, June 3, IRNA -- In his third visit to the the Bam Quake-leveled
   city on Tuesday, President Mohammad Khatami surveyed the quality of
   humanitarian services offered to quake victims, their temporary
   lodging, and the extent of progress in removing the quake debris.
   A 6.3 Richter earthquake leveled the ancient Bam city, the
   villages in its vicinity and destroyed its historical citadel in
   Kerman province in December 26, 2003.
   President Khatami`s first visit to Bam following the killer
   quake was on December 29, three days after the earthquake, and his
   second visit on March 24, 2004.
   On Tuesday, the president rushed to visit Bam`s quake victims
   immediately after his participation at the ceremony for making
   operational phase one of the renovation plan of Sarcheshme Copper
   Plant.
   Upon arrival at Bam Airport, President Khatami attended the
   gathering of a group of quake stricken citizens, listened to
   complaints, and sympathized with them.
   Ministers of Housing and Urban Development, Health, Mines and
   Industries, and Agricultural Jihad, as well as vice presidents at
   Environment Protection Organization, tourism, and cultural heritage
   institutes, the governor of Kerman, and a number of other provincial
   and government authorities accompanied the president in the visit.
   The president then went to a temporary residence city comprised
   of mobile home, entered one of them and talked to the family residing
   in it, inquiring about their problems and difficulties.
   The quake-stricken victims who were delighted hearing the news on
   the president`s presence waited behind the fence of the temporary
   city with letters in their hands in which they had reflected their
   problems, wishing to hand them personally to Khatami.
   Health Minister Masoud Pezeshkian, according to whom the volume
   of work done to provide a healthy environment for Bam residents is
   considerable and the cathy diseases have been harnessed there, was
   taking a look at the radiography images if the quake victims under the
   sun light in a corner of the devastated city.
   Housing and Urban Development Minister Ali Abdolalizadeh, too,
   was answering the questions posed by the quake victims on the
   comprehensive plans for reconstruction of their city, loans for house
   construction, and matters related to his ministry`s undertakings.
   President Khatami arrived a tent on which the word UNICEF was
   printed. Inside, there were colored ribbons hanging from the ceiling,
   large and small puppets, and shapes cut with colored papers. The tent
   is Bam`s temporary kindergarten.
   He talked to the little victims of the quake in that tent and
   appreciated the efforts made by their care takers aimed at cheering
   them up as much as possible.
   The president convened a meeting with part of his cabinet and
   the provincial authorities at Bam Airport at the end of his visit.
   The city, too, looked a lot more lively during President Khatami`s
   Tuesday visit compared to his previous two visits.
   Even the people, despite their complaints, appeared to be pleased
   with the amount of work done for their well being and their
   devastated city`s reconstruction. Their satisfaction in that regard
   was even reflected in many of the letters they handed to Khatami,
   including a letter of satisfaction including over 30 pages of the
   Bam residents` signatures at its bottom.