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NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2004Earthquake exposes fault lines in Iranian societyA devastating earthquake Dec. 26 rocked Iran’s Kerman province, 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran. It registered 6.3 on the Richter scale. The area most affected was the city of Bam. The quake left up to 85% of Bam’s houses and buildings destroyed or beyond repair. The death toll, according to Iranian government figures, is over 35,000, almost half of the city population, with many buried in mass graves. But other sources put the death toll at between 40,000 and 50,000 people. This is the deadliest quake the world has seen since 1990, when 40,000 were killed in Rodbar in Gilan province, located in northern Iran. Bam's historic, 2,000-year-old historic citadel was reduced to rubble. TRAGEDY BEYOND NATURE Who is responsible for the non-natural causes of such an extensive human tragedy? Many believe that if the houses had been built properly, the dead could number 100 or fewer. An earthquake of similar magnitude striking Japan or the U.S. would have many fewer casualties. Why did the Islamic regime neglect to create appropriate housing during its rule over the past 25 years? This shows the complete disregard by the regime toward people's lives and safety. These people are the ones who executed or jailed revolutionaries or different thinkers and who falsely claimed that they were going to change the miserable conditions people experienced under the past regime of the Shah. We are in the 21st century, but the Islamic Republic remains unprepared for naturally caused catastrophes and acts very slowly to rescue people when they occur. Many died after surviving for hours and days under the rubble. Some lucky ones were found after a week or two. One man was found after 13 days, and a 97-year-old woman was found after eight days. With these lucky occurrences, the Iranian regime was quick to manipulate people’s religious beliefs by declaring that "a miracle had happened.” EXPLOITING DISASTER Both Iranian and U.S. rulers were quick to use this tragedy for political propaganda. Iranian conservatives accused Bush and the U.S. of interference in Iran. The U.S. claimed that, to get help, the Iranian government must embrace democratic reforms and turn over its detainees from Al Qaeda, to which the Iranian government declared that these were internal matters. Unlike all those manipulations, several humanitarian groups and thousands of ordinary people rushed from all over Iran and abroad to help the survivors. Apart from them, some 84 members of a U.S relief team have been stationed inside of the devastated city of Bam. Since the 1979-1980 hostage situation, this is the first time that the U.S officially has a presence in Iran. A U.S. offer to send a second, higher-powered delegation, which would have included Senator Elizabeth Dole and an unnamed Bush family member, was rejected by the Iranian government. It is obvious that no negotiations between the Iranian and U.S government can compare to the direct action of grassroots people, which mirrors a genuine movement for freedom and independence. HELP FROM BELOW There is a report that lots of supplies and food were sent to Bam, but survivors have not yet received them. Some survivors have tents, but many must share them. The relief effort is very disorganized on the one hand, but on the other hand, the government is trying to control everything including the non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, involved in relief. Because of the lack of coordination, according to local authorities in Bam, 6,000 children remain missing or unaccounted for. The suspicion is that many of those children will be found with neighbors, friends of families, or extended families. Yet without coordination, the searchers cannot say how many may be found under the rubble or have been kidnapped by gangs to sell. Even so, an estimated 2,000 children have been orphaned by the earthquake. Iran has been flooded with people’s offers to adopt Bam’s orphans. Support and solidarity shown by the people of Iran and and the world has been unbelievable, a true example of internationalism. However those who want to send money should not to send donations to accounts provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Several independent organizations have assumed responsibility for collecting funds for Bam’s survivors. Among them are the Committee to Defend Political Prisoners and Other Thinkers in Iran (adpoi@hotmail.com); Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi's Bam aid fund in Tehran (Credit Mutuel / Lique pour la Defense des Droits de I’Homme en Iran / 06045 00070522841 / C C M Paris 15 Montparnasse); and the Bam Earthquake Emergency Coordinating Committee (BM Box 8927 / London WC1N 3XX / England). People are also being encouraged to send financial donations to the Red Cross, UNICEF, or the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The Canadian Red Cross promises that donations it receives will not reach the Iranian government. LET THE PEOPLE DO RECONSTRUCTION The Islamic Republic of Iran made the excuse that natural causes were responsible for the many casualties in the 1990 Rodbar earthquake. This time we should not let them get away with that excuse. We need to put pressure on the regime to review standards of construction, especially in earthquake-prone zones. Overcrowded Tehran, with chaotic traffic and pollution, is a quake-prone zone where a tremor of similar magnitude to that in Bam would kill over 700,000. After the Rodbar and Bam tragedies, the Supreme National Security Council is considering moving the capital from Tehran to elsewhere. This may be a good idea, but it does not resolve the main problem of inadequate housing for ordinary people. While Feb. 20 parliamentary elections are just around the corner, the Islamic Republic of Iran is experiencing extreme pressures from inside and abroad. So-called reformers in the Islamic regime have lost all their reform cards while ordinary people hate the conservatives. It is true that Bam’s earthquake brought much death, but at the same time people are reacting by extending solidarity and supporting genuine organizations for the survivors of Bam. While the Islamic republic is slowly crumbling, people are looking for a better future. --Alireza |
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