(Ask Your ) Questions regarding the disaster in Iran

30 Dec 2003

[Khashayar]

I am an Iranian Freeper, Would like to answer your questions on Iran.

[DoctorZIn]

A few more pics from the landing of USAF in Iran.

[Khashayar]

I really don't know how people here can help them but you can tell people to pray for the victims, wounded and those who died in that incident. People of Iran will be grateful whatever you do.

[Khashayar]

The Iranians already know this, Thanks!

[F14 Pilot]

I think, it is a big tragedy.

[F14 Pilot]

Editorial: Iran's human loss touches every nation

The Australian
29th of December, 03

As if the region did not have enough problems, the Middle East has ended the year with a crushing humanitarian disaster. Friday's earthquake in Bam, in southeastern Iran, has claimed at least 20,000 lives, and possibly twice that number. It is an amazing, almost an incomprehensible death toll – 40,000 would be as many casualties as Australia suffered during World War II – but not unprecedented in the region. Another Iranian quake near the Caspian Sea in 1990 claimed 35,000 lives. Earthquakes are frequent throughout the region, with a quake in Turkey claiming nearly 100 lives earlier this year.

With a further 30,000 people seriously hurt, more than 70 per cent of the city's population has been either killed or injured, making Friday's quake the worst natural disaster anywhere in the world in a decade. About 70 per cent of Bam, a 2000-year-old trading city on the old Silk Route to China, has been razed. Almost as telling as the human devastation will be the collapse of the buildings inside the historic citadel of Arg-e-Bam. Restored in the early 1970s, the ancient citadel drove Bam's economy, attracting tourists from other parts of Iran and from the West. Its destruction is a cultural, as well as a humanitarian, catastrophe. Unfortunately, like the rest of Bam, the citadel was constructed of crumbly sun-dried bricks, with little wood to absorb shocks: Bam is an oasis city within a vast desert, and there are no ready sources of timber. The very factor that created the city's eerie, ochre beauty has proved to be its undoing.

Theocracies and dictatorships do not cope with natural disasters as capably as democratic nations: this was demonstrated earlier this year by China's secretive and maladroit response to the SARS epidemic. Despite the frequency of earthquakes in Iran, building codes are routinely ignored, and as Bam has experienced a renaissance in recent decades, landlords have responded with jerry-built extensions to existing buildings. Despite being of similar magnitude to Friday's earthquake, last week's quake in California claimed only three lives, thanks to safer building methods. Families of victims in Bam have also complained bitterly that the Tehran Government was far too slow in providing rescuers, and that the use of bulldozers in the rubble, rather than search teams, has cost more lives than it has saved. Just as the former shah's inept response to the 1978 quake that cost 15,000 lives contributed to his downfall a year later, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Friday's disaster will shake the foundations of Iran's repressive political system.

Nevertheless, the response of the Iranian Government shows signs of real improvement over the 1990 emergency, when Iran refused assistance from the West. Planes carrying rescue teams and relief supplies – including much-needed blankets to cope with the freezing conditions – have been arriving since Saturday from more than a dozen countries. Despite the US's fraught relations with Iran – which President George W. Bush included in his "axis of evil" nations threatening world security – Washington has mobilised relief supplies that were already in the region, in Iraq, to help the Bam victims. This united effort shows the capacity of all nations to put aside political differences when there are people lying dead and injured, and widows and orphans freezing to death who desperately need assistance. It is a great pity the Iranian ayatollahs cannot match this level of generous human response, even when it is their own people who are suffering: they have specifically rejected any assistance from Israel, the country in the region with the capacity to do the most to help.

Australia has pledged $2 million in relief, and an RAAF Hercules carrying blankets, tarpaulins, portable stoves and other supplies left Richmond airbase yesterday, bound for Iran. Both World Vision Australia and the Australian Red Cross have launched appeals, and as a people more acquainted than most with the human cost of natural disasters, Australians will be digging deep to help those who in a few terrible minutes have lost their families, their homes, their livelihoods, and indeed their entire cultural history.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8274348%255E7583,00.html

[AdmSmith]

Death Toll in Iran Quake May Reach 40,000
14 minutes ago

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

BAM, Iran - Survivors and rescuers in Iran's historic city of Bam were jolted by two frightening aftershocks Monday morning that caused some of the few remaining walls to tumble and left a rising cloud of dust over the remains of the city's ancient fortress.

More than 21,000 bodies have been retrieved since Friday's 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook the city and surrounding region in southeast Iran, according to provincial government spokesman Asadollah Iranmanesh. Some officials have expressed fears the death toll could rise as high as 40,000. Iranmanesh said Sunday that 10,000 people were hospitalized.

"Many, many more people remain buried under the rubble, increasing fears of a much greater death toll at the end," Iranmanesh said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made an unannounced visit to Bam Monday morning to inspect relief efforts and President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) was expected to arrive later in the day.

Hopes of finding more survivors faded as sunrise Monday marked 72 hours since the quake hit, entombing thousands of sleeping residents in their homes. Experts say 72 hours is generally the longest people can survive if they are trapped in rubble.

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.

James Brown, spokesman for a British rescue team, said a human being can survive three to four days without water, and three to four weeks without food.

"There is always hope for survivors," Brown said Monday.

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

Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said Sunday that the search for survivors would probably end Monday night.

Ted Pearn, coordinator of U.N. relief operations in Bam, said 1,400 international relief workers were in Bam, part of 35 teams from 26 countries.

Planes from dozens of countries, including the United States, have landed in the provincial capital of Kerman with relief supplies, volunteers and trained dogs.

U.S. military C-130 cargo planes were among the arrivals, 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

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."

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.

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.

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

Bam was best known for its medieval citadel, considered the world's largest surviving mud fortress. Most of the 2,000-year-old fortress, including a massive square tower, crumbled like a sand castle when the quake hit.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=2&u=/ap/20031229/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_earthquake

[Khashayar]

Good post!

[Ex-Dem]

Thanks for sticking around to answer everyone's questions. It's the early morning here in the US, so most people are asleep. I'm sure people will have more questions later in the day.

Anyways, I just had a few questions. Is it difficult to get an internet connection over there? How free/controlled is the media and the internet? And are they able to get the humanitarian assistance to the people who really need it?

Stay safe! We have the Iranian people in our hearts.

[EuroFrog]

My heart pours out to your country. I cry every time I see pictures or hear reports about the loss to your country. I cant even begin to imagine the pain you (Iranians) are feeling. God bless you all.

[texasflower]

This earthquake is heartbreaking. So much pain is hard for me to observe and not be able to directly help. My prayers are with you and your country for this tragedy and for a free, hopeful future for you all.

Tammy

[Khashayar]

Anyways, I just had a few questions. Is it difficult to get an internet connection over there? How free/controlled is the media and the internet? And are they able to get the humanitarian assistance to the people who really need it?

Regarding your questions, I should answer that It is not really hard to get access to Internet, It is easy. The Mullahs' government filtered many free News webpages and people, thanks to the USA, should use an American anti-filtering homepage to view their favorite websites. As I told other freepers, there are lots of helps and assistance, but the mismanagement decreased the speed of flowing help into the region. One funny thing is that most people believe that Mullahs are bandits and thieves, so they are reluctant to send their helps through the Mullahs funds or institutes, they would like to send aid more directly. I just hope that the people there get as much help as possible.

[Sally'sConcerns]

While I'm proud of our government for aiding Iran during this awful, terrible tragedy, I'd like to know how I as an individual can help.

My heart goes out to all of the people who have been affected by the earthquake. I watched a clip on the news and it broke my heart. A man was standing on a mound of debris and the translator stated the man was saying "It's all gone. My friends, my family, my relative, all gone."

How can the American people let the Iranian people know we care? Not government to government but person to person. How can we help?

[Khashayar]

Thanks for kind sentiments, I'll try to pass all people's sentiments on to my friends, classmates and people of the city of Bam.

[Khashayar]

You are really true. But when Iranian people see that there are 146 American rescue workers work for them, they feel that they are not left alone.
Yes, Those people lost everythings they had...

[Khashayar]

Sorry about delay in translation what our friend "freedom44" said.
He was saying:
Where are you from? Are you from Tehran or other parts of the country?
He wanted me to send his/her best wishes and condolences to his/her countrymen.

He said that President Bush sent condolence messages and at the end he added that, Viva A free Iran.
Viva President Bush, Death to Muallahs of the Islamic Republic.
**
Is it ok now? :-)

[Khashayar]

I can see and hear Helicopters flying in sky of Tehran from west to east and north. These helicopters are carrying wounded people to hospitals spread in the city of Tehran.

[Khashayar]

Newest pictures of the quake in the city of Bam.

I am sorry if they are disturbing but it is a fact.

[risk]

I feel safe talking here, ...

Excellent. I hope your family is coping with any relatives who might have been harmed. Americans are just amazed at how much suffering there has been over there in such a short time. We know it could happen to ourselves -- just look at the WMD headlines to see how. We also have the San Adreas fault here in California, and other tumults like forest fires and so forth. But nothing on the scale of this.

Free Republic is fully behind our president's offer to help with the disaster. It's the right thing to do, and we hope everyone can accept it with open hearts.

Please keep us posted and take care! Stay safe!

[Khashayar]

Could you please let us know what you think of the disaster and the US aid to Iran?
Thanks!

[Khashayar]

Open your eyes please, see how the people of America are kind and just...