Iranian press lambasts quake efforts

Lack of preventive measures and the government's coordination of relief efforts following the Bam earthquake are receiving short shrift in the Iranian press.

One paper, however, hopes for a change of international attitude towards Iran as countries around the world, including the US and Israel, offer their assistance.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What the hell happened to crisis management, responsible governance, and all the talk about caring for those in most need?

Men, women and children dying in the thousands only because the state machinery was ill-prepared for natural disasters is mind-boggling, to say the least.

As for those who manage the affairs of 70m Iranians, they could do much better to be proactive than reactive.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone told you that the quake victims of the past 10 or 20 years were still living in tents, you might not believe it. We are very good at lamenting and crying, but when it comes to planning, preventing and fortifying... we more or less do nothing but wait for the disaster to happen and then see what we can do.

We know how to spend billions of dollars on bread and petrol subsidies so no-one raises their voice. But we are not prepared to spend the same amount on a national plan for making buildings quake-proof.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those organisations or individuals issuing permits for buildings, factories producing sub-standard building materials and people or companies in the construction industry - don't any of them think that, one day, a building might collapse on their heads and the heads of their own children? They only think about how to turn one dollar into two.

It seems our experiences are only useful to other countries - they are the ones who learn from our mistakes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How many times have we reminded the ruling establishment that the first structures to fall during a major earthquake would be those dealing with emergency management and relief, such as hospitals, police and fire stations?

Hospitals and other centres designated for disaster relief were among the first to collapse in yesterday's (26 December) tragic quake. The officials in charge are either deaf or simply don't care.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When hospitals and relief centres in the city have also been destroyed and their staff are among those killed, who is left to rush to the assistance of the injured and those under the rubble?

There is a need for serious and principled planning, and for these plans to be implemented throughout the country.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lack of preparations to receive voluntary assistance - many volunteers couldn't give their blood, for example - is another regrettable scene in this incident.

And the very sad lack of coordination has inflicted much damage on the people. Don't people have the right to be extremely worried if experience has shown that there is such a lack of coordination?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Iran was newsworthy before the earthquake, it was because of accusations and allegations over nuclear and Al-Qaeda activities. The earthquake in Bam has greatly changed the atmosphere.

Israel's non-governmental organizations have asked for guidelines on assisting Iran... The White House has earmarked around $1m for Iran.

Not long ago, the atmosphere was one of trading allegations and hostile disputes. Now, in a complete about-face, it has become one of humanitarian assistance. This could help lay a new foundation of international relations.

America and Israel's relations with each other, and their relations with Iran, have undergone much tension and fluctuation, but they could follow another path.

Rescue Teams Seek Iran Quake Survivors

1 hour, 18 minutes ago

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

BAM, Iran - Hopes of finding more earthquake survivors in Iran's ancient city of Bam faded Sunday as the sharp, foul smell of death permeated the pulverized rubble where mud-brick houses became instant tombs for more than 20,000 people.

Rescue workers from around the world joined Iranians in searching through powdery debris that left little room for air pockets, which could allow people to survive while awaiting help.

More than 20,000 bodies, including one American killed while visiting the city's 2,000-year-old citadel, have been retrieved since Friday's 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook the city and surrounding region in southeast Iran, a local government spokesman said.

Another 10,000 people were hospitalized, the spokesman Asadollah Iranmanesh said. Other officials have expressed fears that the death toll could rise as high as 40,000.

Only one man was pulled alive from the rubble Sunday, Iranmanesh said. A day earlier, officials reported freeing 150 survivors.

"We have not lost hope for survivors, and our priority remains to find them," Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said.

Later, he told reporters that the search for survivors would probably end Monday night: "Tomorrow is the last hope."

Experts say that 72 hours is generally the longest people can survive if they are trapped in rubble. Sunrise Monday is Bam's 72-hour mark.

Planes from dozens of countries landed in the provincial capital of Kerman with relief supplies, volunteers and dogs trained to find bodies and survivors. U.S. military C-130 cargo planes were among them, despite long-severed diplomatic relations and President Bush (news - web sites)'s characterization of Iran as being part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq (news - web sites) and North Korea (news - web sites).

Interior Minister Lari said Iran accepted U.S. government help and not Israeli help because Tehran considers the United States a legitimate government, but opposes Israel for its actions against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites). Israel "is a force of occupation," he said.

As for Americans, Lari said. "I believe it is possible that they have a humanitarian sensibility in such a dramatic situation."

Traffic clogged the roads leading in and out of Bam, 630 miles southeast of Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Survivors with any kind of motor vehicle loaded furniture and whatever they could salvage and headed for other cities. Incoming traffic brought relief supplies, volunteers and relatives desperate for news of their kin.

Mostafa Biderani and his wife, Zahra Nazari, wept in front of a destroyed police station in the center of Bam, slapping their faces and beating their chests in an Islamic expression of grief.

"I pulled my son out of the rubble this morning," said Biderani, who drove from Isfahan, 470 miles to the northwest. "But all my hopes were dashed when I saw the police station had collapsed. I pulled out my son with my bare hands."

The traditional sun-dried, mud-brick construction of the houses doomed many occupants, as it has for centuries in quake-prone Iran. Heavy roofs, often sealed with cement or plaster to keep out rain, sit atop mud-brick walls that have no support beams. When walls crumble, roofs smash down, leaving few air pockets and crushing or suffocating anyone inside. Friday's quake struck about 5:30 a.m. when most people were sleeping.

"In these conditions, we are not optimistic of finding anyone alive. Hopes are dwindling fast," said Barry Sessions of Britain's Rapid-UK rescue group, which did not find any survivors in 24 hours of searching.

"The earthquake reduced most of the buildings to something like talcum powder. Many of the casualties suffocated and there are few voids or gaps left in the buildings where we would normally find survivors."

His thoughts were echoed by other relief workers.

Luca Spoletini, spokesman for the Italian Civil Protection, said its teams found nothing but corpses after a day spent probing the rubble.

Describing a visit to Barazat, a town with a population of 20,000 a few miles outside Bam, Spoletini said, "There is nothing any more. Not one single house, not one single building stands upright. It is like the Apocalypse. I have never seen anything like that."

By Saturday night, enough tents had arrived to accommodate the thousands of homeless. There was even a bit of normalcy, with people complaining they had to share a tent with another family.

Looters were also out, grabbing food from warehouses and grocery shops. Police tried to control them by shooting in the air.

In addition to Italian and British teams, rescuers, supplies or pledges of aid arrived from Austria, Azerbaijan, Britain, Finland, Germany, Russia, Turkey and dozens of other nations.

The United States arranged an airlift of 150,000 pounds of food, water and medical supplies. Four military planes flew into the country from Kuwait.

"The reception was beyond expectations," said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jeff Bohn, who was on the first plane. "The warmth that the Iranian military and civil aviation workers gave us was truly incredible."

An Iranian navy helicopter crashed 30 miles southwest of Bam on Sunday after delivering tents and blankets, the regional governor's office said. All three crewmen were killed, he said.

Bam was best known for its medieval citadel, considered the world's largest surviving mud fortress. Most of the fortress, including a massive square tower, crumbled like a sand castle when the quake hit.

_____

Associated Press reporter Alessandra Rizzo in Bam contributed to this report.

It is grim...
Lastest reports are, death toll may go over 30,000. 16,000 of the dead have been buried. On Saturday they pulled at least 150 people who were still alive, but on Sunday they only pulled a few out that were still alive. Most of the US helpers in Iran are helping the wounded and are not searching for dead or people who may still be alive in the rubble. Most people never had a chance, because the roofs on the mud huts are heavy and thick to keep rain out. The walls have no support beams. Basically the roofs pancaked on top of them when the walls crumbled into dust. They say many choked to death from the fine dust that is if they survived the roof falling in on them. Aid is pouring in very fast... Nearly all the helpers from all over the country received a very warm welcome by Iranian's and the Iranian military. The center of the quake was located about 10 miles out of Bam (pronounced more like "Bom", like "Bomb" without the b on the end" and not "Bamm"). They are finding many dead in surrounding areas just outside of Bam. 100,000 people are living around Bam and 80,000 lived in Bam. An Iranian army helicopter crashed Sunday while on a relief mission, Two people on board were missing.

If I find out more I will post it.

Persians are ill suited to be die hard Islamix.

This is an optimistic viewpoint, but I hope it's true. I just found it incredible that 20,000 have died and Iran's leaders could 1) take the time to refuse any offers of help at all 2) call Israel its arch enemy. It seems Iran has had other threats in recent history, such as from the Soviets and from Saddam Hussein, not to mention its own internal civil wars. The anti-Zionists can search all they like, but both of those threats were from non-ideologically driven forms of hegemony as far as I'm concerned. I guess in Orwellian terms, "Oceania (Iran) has always been at war with Eurasia (Israel)." Iran (and Saudi Arabia, etc...) need an enemy to prop up their hollow rulership, or the lack of it.

But isn't there more to the vitriol?

Since western civilization is both tempered and driven by its Judeo-Christian values, and Islam has undeniable origins in Judaism's monotheism, could we be talking about a deadly identity crisis here? Aside from needing an enemy, might it simply be unsettling to Islam to know that they both owe so much to the common basis of an alternate civilization?

I'm just trying to understand the intensity of the animosity. To me, it just doesn't make sense. Perhaps that's a naive American attitude, but we tend to respond to a threat, deal with it, and then move on with our lives. I can't see any evidence to the contrary that Islam invented its hatred for Jewish culture out of a built-in intolerance for anything different. Other than a few distantly-related biblical events that befell non-muslim, pre-Arab tribes who got in the way of a burgeoning culture, what have Jews ever done to Arabs other than defend themselves?

I just don't get it. For me, the questions is who inspired whom? Did the Nazis take a page out of Islam's political hate machine, or did Islam refine its hatered for Jews based on Hitler's clever refinements of a centuries-old tradition of xenophobia and demagogueury?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.