Around 200 people gathered in Christ Church in Heriot Road, Hendon, for a candlelit vigil on Sunday to remember the 30,000 people killed by the earthquake in Bam, Iran, on Boxing Day.

The eerie silence in the church hall spoke volumes as the gathered mourners many of whom had lost relatives in the earthquake saw harrowing images of grief and destruction flit across a TV screen.

Among them was Khalil Nejad, who lost six members of his family in the early hours of December 26 when they were buried alive at their home, near the city of Bam.

"I lost my cousin, his wife and their four children," said Mr Nejad. "I was really shocked when my father told me the news. My cousin Shahabi was a good man, and I miss him.

"We hadn't seen each other in ten years but we often spoke to each other on the phone."

Mr Nejad, a carpenter who has lived in Stoke Newington for a decade, also has family in the nearby city of Kerman, all of whom escaped uninjured.

"My family went to help, to try and get my cousin from beneath the rubble, but all the roads were blocked off.

"The government feared there would be a protest or an uprising immediately afterwards so they closed the roads.

"There was an earthquake in San Francisco not long before which measured less on the richter scale."

He added: "Only two or three people died, where here many thousands did.

"How could the government let this happen?"

Farzaneh Hosseini, a 16-year-old from Mill Hill, said: "The Iranian government is more interested in terrorism and fulfilling their nuclear ambitions than spending money on preventative measures.

"Bam is an area known for being prone to earthquakes and they did nothing."