Lack of Resources and Poor Management are the Main Problems for Earthquake Victims

The newspaper Qanoon criticized the "inaction in crisis management" of the earthquake, stating: "Three days after the devastating earthquake in Kermanshah, due to the slow pace of aid delivery in these areas, many individuals do not even have blankets to keep warm, and the cold weather and lack of facilities are severely affecting those who survived this incident." The newspaper noted that "we have heard the name of the crisis management headquarters many times" and stated that the multiple meetings of the crisis headquarters have yielded no results, adding that "today we see that those who have lost their loved ones and property in this disaster are suffering from a lack of resources and their civil rights are being violated. The crisis headquarters, which is supposed to assist people during natural disasters, seems to be experiencing a crisis itself during these disasters." Qanoon also published a report titled "Aftershocks of Management" harshly criticizing the twelfth government and President Hassan Rouhani, stating that on Tuesday in the earthquake-stricken city of Sarpol-e Zahab, people who had hoped to meet him and share their problems found that Rouhani used the site of the destroyed Mehr housing for sarcastic remarks against Ahmadinejad and made promises amidst a crowd of security and military forces, reminiscent of his election rallies. The newspaper emphasized that "Hassan Rouhani, alongside the legacy of the previous government that has collapsed on the people, also used Ahmadinejad's phrases and called the government a servant of the people," noting that "the images from his speech reflected a top-down view of the nation with no sign of servitude" and that "Hassan Rouhani did not separate from his security detail even to express sympathy with the people, and his gratitude towards various agencies faced public protests, especially against the performance of the Red Crescent." The newspaper Shargh also emphasized that "the lack of resources and poor management is the main problem for earthquake victims," stating that "although aid has begun from the early hours, people are complaining about the way aid is being delivered, and many of them have still not received tents." Witness Halaj, a reporter for Shargh, pointed out that "the main crisis center is in Sarpol-e Zahab and its surrounding villages," writing that "the overall situation of the damaged city of Sarpol-e Zahab shows that although rescue teams are making significant efforts and assistance and basic supplies have arrived from designated provinces, the main problem lies in the weak management of this crisis. Red Crescent rescuers have a weak presence in some of the affected areas." One Red Crescent rescuer in Sarpol-e Zahab told the newspaper: "This is not my first mission. We have been trained for such conditions. The main problem is that management is not really in our hands. There is severe managerial weakness, and this has led to the resources sent to the area not being properly distributed; we are caught in an emotional management situation." However, "what happened initially was that some tents were distributed among people who, although affected, were not seriously harmed, while the crisis-affected area was elsewhere. Camps should have been established, and the affected people should have been housed in the camps and tents we set up. If this had happened, resources would have been properly distributed." The distribution of "improper" aid in the earthquake-stricken areas was also highlighted by a video from social media. The reporter for Shargh emphasized that "the situation in Sarpol-e Zahab is critical, and people are extremely anxious and sad," writing: "In the area where Mehr housing exists, several members of each family have lost their lives," and even one resident stated: "Each of those standing here has lost four or five people, and their bodies have been pulled out, and they are waiting for the bodies of others to be retrieved." The newspaper reported that in Sarpol-e Zahab, military forces are engaged in rescue operations, and "people are very satisfied with the presence of the army in the area and say that the soldiers have helped them a lot." The situation in the villages is very critical; for example, in the village of Kani Aziz, "700 households in this village are in a very bad situation without even a rescuer," and villagers say, "We have no drinking water. No one has checked on us. One person came to assess and left; no one else has come, nor have any supplies been sent to us." One resident of the village of Nave Farreh also told Shargh that "if help does not reach us, some villagers may die from illness. It is not just the injuries of the villagers; we had livestock that all died under the rubble. If we cannot bury them, disease will spread in the village, and there will be nothing we can do." The newspaper Javan also reported with the headline "Sleeping on the Streets of Earthquake Victims in Zero Degree Weather" quoting reporter Fatemeh Irfaniyan that "two days after the deadly earthquake, there is still no news of rescue forces and aid reaching the villagers. The villagers, who now have no shelter, are spending nights in below-zero temperatures outdoors without tents, blankets, or heating equipment. Everyone is complaining about the officials, and the least they request in this bitter cold is tents and blankets to withstand the mountain cold." The reporter pointed out that on Tuesday afternoon, two days after the earthquake, in the villages of Imam Abbas, Tabani, and Koyi, there was no sign of rescue forces, and only in some cases had public aid reached the people of these areas, referring to the widespread destruction of homes and the burial of the dead by their survivors, even writing that "the earthquake turned the village of Nave Farreh, which is only 20 minutes away from the city of Pol Zahab, into a pile of dirt," but in this village as well, "despite its proximity to the city, there was no sign of rescue forces or government aid until Tuesday afternoon." The newspaper Jam-e-Farda dedicated a photo of a woman earthquake victim in the village of Deh Jami in the Dalahu County, "struggling to remove her belongings from under the rubble in the presence of a small number of rescue forces." This newspaper, with the headline "Village, the Challenge of Survivors," referred to the problems of earthquake-affected villagers, stating that in the village of Deh Jami, "about 10 rescue workers, 5 Red Crescent tents, and drinking water have reached this village, but the people of this village still need food, tents, and heating equipment." This newspaper, in its editorial titled "The Test of Efficiency," emphasized that "the first principle of crisis management is result-orientation," stating that "although we know that the nature and fate of our ecological environment are in a region of the world that has suffered the most damage, unfortunately, we have seen the least measures and movements for crisis management and mitigation, and the recent earthquake crisis is also a repeated test that challenges the responsibility of governance and state management; have the institutions involved in this devastating crisis adopted a new arrangement of countermeasures, or are they still stuck in the closed pathways of repetitive and unsuccessful clichés of previous periods?" The newspaper Qanoon, in the headline of its Wednesday issue, criticized the "inaction in crisis management" of the earthquake, stating: "Three days after the devastating earthquake in Kermanshah, due to the slow pace of aid delivery in these areas, many individuals do not even have blankets to keep warm, and the cold weather and lack of facilities are severely affecting those who survived this incident." At the same time, the newspaper Kayhan, while attacking newspapers close to the reformist faction and the government, in its headline "The Weight of Lies Heavier than the Weight of Calamity" wrote: "Chain newspapers in a strange and coordinated action declared Mehr housing as the cause of the calamity and casualties of the Kermanshah earthquake," and Hassan Rouhani also stated during his speech in Sarpol-e Zahab: "The government will deal with those responsible for the destruction of Mehr housing and will introduce them to the people." Hussein Shariatmadari, the representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in Kayhan, while quoting parts of the statements of Hassan Rouhani and Eshaq Jahangiri regarding the extensive destruction of Mehr housing during the Kermanshah earthquake, wrote: "The official statement of the officials of the Kermanshah Urban Planning Department, which announced that the number of fatalities in Mehr housing is two, shows that the statements of Mr. President and his first deputy are false, and the question arises as to why they pointed fingers at Mehr housing before investigating and obtaining the necessary information?!" This newspaper pointed out that Hassan Rouhani said, "11,000 rural houses and 4,500 urban homes have been destroyed," adding: "The share of Mehr housing in this is two fatalities. So, where are the 428 other fatalities and 7,817 injuries from the Kermanshah earthquake residing?!" and "Were not the 11,000 rural houses and 4,500 urban homes destroyed built by the people?!" The editorial writer of Kayhan also called for the newspapers that reported on the destruction of "Mehr housing" in the earthquake-stricken cities to be addressed by the "Supreme National Security Council, the Press Supervisory Board, and the Tehran Prosecutor's Office," writing that now that "close to 10 million people, mostly from the deprived and honorable classes of our country, which is about 12.5% of the population, reside in Mehr housing complexes, the question is whether creating anxiety and fear of potential destruction of housing and the collapse of rubble on them, which the chain newspapers are blowing their deceptive trumpets, is against national interests and benefits?!" The representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in Kayhan even implicitly described the collapse of Mehr housing complexes due to the earthquake as natural, writing: "Apparently, those who have commented on the 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Kermanshah have not even bothered to make a simple visit to understand the science of earthquakes, otherwise, if they had exerted the slightest effort, they would not have spoken about an earthquake of such destructive intensity in this way." The newspaper Etemad published a photo of a newborn with the headline "The Sound of Hope" on its front page, stating: "The second newborn was born after the earthquake." According to this newspaper, "In a situation where a great wound has been inflicted on the social body, the birth of a newborn is a sign of the rebirth of this community. These births can be seen as a symbol of life and the continuity of life and can keep the spirit of hope alive among citizens for even a moment." Etemad also wrote that "nurturing the seeds of hope depends on other factors as well. One of the most important factors in strengthening social hope is related to strengthening social trust among people and also between people and officials. Accelerating the process of aid delivery to earthquake victims and improving the quality of services is one of the actions that directly affects the reconstruction of social trust. In the context of this social trust, the people of these cities can gradually overcome the current crisis and return to their social lives. Providing the ground for social participation of citizens and charitable organizations and NGOs by the government is another solution for strengthening trust and social hope." The newspaper Hamdeli also dedicated its front page to the same newborn and with the headline "You No Longer Be Deceived" wrote: "Ava is a girl who was born amidst the disaster and we must teach her many things about wisdom and insight." This newspaper wrote that "the birth of Ava from among the bricks, cement, and steel of the collapsed earth and time is one of the most symbolic images captured by the artistic photographer of IRNA, Ahmad Moeini Jam. Hamdeli addressed this newborn, stating: "The political market is always open, and the goods in it are abundant, justice, freedom, love, welfare, etc. I do not know why the sweetest of them is justice. Read the history of your country, turn around and see your surroundings. Do not be deceived by any sweet-talking and false populism." The newspaper Shargh reported on "a 15% increase in the price of the staple food of the people after three years," stating that an agreement has been reached between the market regulation headquarters and the bakers' union, and soon "bread will become more expensive." According to this newspaper, the head of the Trade Union Chamber stated on Tuesday: "The market regulation headquarters has agreed to a 15% increase in the price of bread, although bakers demanded a 30% increase." Shargh wrote that "this news came two months after the head of the bakers' union of Tehran criticized the lack of an increase in bread prices over the past three years, stating that despite the price of flour remaining stable, the ancillary costs of bakeries such as water, electricity, gas, insurance, taxes, and wages have increased, and the lack of an increase in bread prices has led to dissatisfaction among bakers across the country." While on Tuesday, the third committee of the UN General Assembly condemned "the continued violation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran," the newspaper Hemayat reported in its Wednesday issue that Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, called for "careful planning for the human rights trial of the West." According to this newspaper, Sadegh Larijani stated in a meeting with members of the "Human Rights Headquarters of the Judiciary": "We must have technical human rights offensives against the West and not passively wait for their offensives to respond only," and "human rights negotiations with other countries should also be accompanied by addressing bilateral issues, meaning that if they have human rights violations against us, they should also be accountable for their own human rights issues.