Cover Story  Sands run down at Bam  COVER STORY: Time is past
for pulling victims from the rubble of one of Iran's most-
powerful earthquakes. As the dust clears, the clock starts for
good Samaritans to help one of the world's worst regimes through
its worst-ever disaster   Nighttime is when bone-numbing cold
returns to the homeless and the rescue teams rev up for work.
For many survivors of Iran's Dec. 26 earthquake, white tents and
colorful blankets have arrived to ease sleeping out in sub-
freezing temperatures. Nothing shields them from devastating
losses.  Rescuers know that the overnight quiet is the best time
for desperate searches-the only kind left to do beyond the
72-hour mark, after most live victims can be recovered from
quake rubble. In the dark, with trucks stilled, trench-digging
for graves subsided, and the cries of babies and mourners
muffled, stalwart teams flicked on headlamps and sonar
equipment. What rescuers remained pursued every report of
possible life, probing bewildering lumps of mud b