AS the world braced itself for terrorist attacks over Christmas, it was not a man-made disaster but the power of nature which shattered the peace and left the Iranian city of Bam looking like it had been bombed.

With the estimated death toll reaching up to 20,000 last night, it is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions.

It is a time for international teamwork to bring whatever aid can be brought to Iran. A massive global effort is needed to help the people of Bam rebuild their lives.

On Christmas Eve, we said it was a time to think of the people whose lives had been torn apart by warfare during 2003. Our thoughts were also with the Armed forces and those who had lost loved ones during the war against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

Today we must also find time to consider the people caught up in a catastrophe which struck with such swift and devastating savagery in neighbouring Iran.

And as we do so, we must again place our own troubles in the context of the suffering of others.