Global Disaster Information Network is sad to report that a magnitude 6.7 quake devastated the historic town of Bam in Iran at 5:28 am Friday, local time. More than half the city's houses were destroyed, as well as its historic 2,000 year old mud-brick fortress, an important tourist attraction. A preliminary estimate said the death toll has probably reached 10,000, one out 8 residents; but many more might die, since most of the population was in bed at the time. Local reports indicate 60 percent of the houses were destroyed and water, power and phone lines were cut. "The historic quarter of the city has been completely destroyed and caused great human loss," said Mehran Nourbakhsh, chief spokesman for Iran's Red Crescent, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross.