Survivors
of the devastating earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam, as
well as Red Cross and Red Crescent staff, volunteers and delegates
were treated to a royal visit on 9 February 2004. His Royal
Highness the prince of Wales toured the site and expressed his
concern for the victims.
As head of the logistics unit, Peter Pearce is used to
seeing many people in his big white logistics tent. Delegates
come in all the time, asking for support, lists and information.
But this time, the crowd in front of the tent is different.
Red Cross and Red Crescent members from more than 16 nations
are lined up along the asphalted path which leads through the
compound. His Royal Highness the prince of Wales is visiting
the Red Cross Red Crescent camp and field hospital in Bam, together
with the chief executive of the British Red Cross (BRC), Sir
Nick Young. A huge crowd gathers outside the tent of the logistics
team, which is made up mainly of British Red Cross delegates,
as the prince, who is president of the British Red Cross, stops
by for a friendly and informal “chat” with “his”
team behind the tarpaulin. The normal life of a Red Cross delegate
in a disaster is rarely comfortable and in Bam the tented camp
is far from luxurious.
This is not the first time Peter Pearce has met the prince of
Wales. Some 33 years ago, His Royal Highness traveled through
Kenya, and spoke to a young man working in a fishing camp. At
the time Peter Pearce was a teenager. “Of course I recognized
the prince. But for some reason he didn’t recognize me,”
he jokes and then becomes serious again: “His visit is
very important for the people of Bam and the Red Cross Red Crescent
Movement. He put what still is a disaster, and which should
not be forgotten, back into the headlines. There are now many
journalists here to remind the world that tens of thousands
of people lost their homes. The whole city lies in ruins, 85
per cent of all houses are destroyed and nearly half of the
population died in the quake. Bam still needs solidarity,”
says the British Red Cross delegate. Peter Pearce is a delegate
the prince of Wales can be proud of, having spent 14 years of
his professional life doing humanitarian work.
“The prince of Wales seemed to be impressed by our work
and he expressed his concern for the long-term future of the
victims of the earthquake in the city of Bam,” says Iain
Logan, head of the International Federation’s field operations
in Bam. The BRC president is very interested in the work of
the Iranian Red Crescent Society volunteers and staff members,
who have been on the ground since the very first hours following
the disaster and continue to lead the relief operation.
The prince also takes time to speak to and shake hands with
Red Cross and Red Crescent delegates from Austria, China, Colombia,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Malaysia,
Norway, Spain and the United States.
“I think he is genuinely concerned by the needs of the
people,” says Toril Parelius from the Norwegian Red Cross
after the prince asked her about her Red Cross missions, the
work of her Red Cross Society and her impressions. “I
love the challenges of this mission and the good cooperation
of the whole Movement. I told him this and also that I met his
sister in Africa,” says the experienced delegate with
a smile.
Dorit Boecken, a young German nurse, guides the prince through
one of the two basic health care units set up by the German
Red Cross. He chats with some patients and staff members. “If
someone had told me, before my mission, that I would meet a
prince in the rubble, I never would have believed them,”
comments Dorit with a smile.
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From
left to right - British Red Cross delegates Kevin Studds
and Peter Pearce, chief executive of the British Red Cross,
Sir Nick Young and the prince of Wales (p11189)
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The
prince shares a joke with members of the Iranian Red Crescent
Society (p11192)
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Dorit
Boecken, a delegate from the German Red Cross and Mostafa
Mohagahegh from the Iranian Red Crescent show the prince
around the basic health care unit (p11195)
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