Exclusive | Neglect of House Destruction Due to Landslides; Eyewitness: The Lives of Over 100 Rural Families Are at Risk

Following damage to homes due to landslides in the village of "Naranj Pareh" in the Tanyan region of Soume'eh Sara in Gilan province, an eyewitness told Voice of America that responsible officials have endangered the lives of "over 100 families" by neglecting and mismanaging floodwaters. According to an exclusive report by Voice of America, 12 years after the destruction of homes in the village of "Naranj Pareh," which was attributed to "landslides" by Islamic Republic officials, citizens have received "no services." One resident of Naranj Pareh told the Persian section of Voice of America: "The villagers have gone everywhere; to the parliamentary representative, the governor, the provincial governor, to any place you can think of, and they have said that if you have declared this area as landslide-prone, the government should take our lands and properties and provide us with land elsewhere to build homes and live." The eyewitness added: "Now, they neither provide us with housing nor pay attention to us. They have not come and will not come to see the situation. The houses are destroyed, we have no road, and residents travel by horse." According to this citizen, "a small wind or a 2-magnitude earthquake" could "destroy these houses." A report registered in 2022 in the "Earth Sciences Database" indicates that the "landslide" event in the village of Naranj Pareh Tanyan, part of the Gourab Zarmikh district of Soume'eh Sara County, has caused "some damage to residential homes and the village's communication routes." This report was recorded 10 years after the landslide occurred; as stated in this report, "a group of experts from the Geological and Exploratory Research Center, along with local officials, were dispatched to the area on March 2, 2013, and the above report is the result of the initial assessments from this visit." Furthermore, the Mehr News Agency reported in 2016 that following snowfall in this region of Gilan province in northern Iran, residents of Naranj Pareh "witnessed renewed landslides, cracks in the walls, floors, and ceilings of their homes and streets." Despite this, and after 12 years, the eyewitness told Voice of America that the condition of the houses remains the same, and the risk of their destruction exists with a gust of wind, heavy snowfall and rain, or a slight earthquake, endangering the lives of one hundred rural families. Environmental crises in Iran, which some experts say are significantly caused by mismanagement, have peaked in recent years and continue to persist. Masoumeh Amigh-Pei, an official from the Iranian Mapping Organization, previously noted that the subsidence phenomenon has infiltrated 16 major cities in Iran, with 800 cities also located within the subsidence area.