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Elders have long been recognised as among the most vulnerable people in disaster events. This paper reports a qualitative study of the self-perceived needs of older people in the aftermath of the Bam earthquake in Iran in 2003. A total of 56 people aged from 65 to 88 years were recruited to the study using purposive sampling, including 29 men and 27 women. Six focus group discussions and ten semi-structured individual interviews were conducted. Each focus group involved six to ten people from the cities of Bam and Baravat and their rural suburbs. Content analysis was used to analyse the transcribed data. The analysis identified four major themes among the informants' concerns: inappropriate service delivery, affronts to dignity, feeling insecure and emotional distress. A disaster-prone country like Iran needs to be appropriately prepared with culturally sensitive plans to meet the needs of those who suffer from their effects, not least older people. Emergency relief managers should note that for many older people in a disaster zone, customary forms of relief are neither required nor appropriate, and that their distinctive immediate and long-term needs should be assessed and met. Relief agencies need to be trained to be age-sensitive and should mainstream older people's rights in the planning and implementation of both the response and recovery phases of assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]