“We are going to face a disaster worse than the earthquake itself”

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Concern is growing for survivors of a November 12 earthquake in western Iran, as the Supreme Leader visited the area on Monday.

More than 430 people were killed and thousands wounded by the 7.3-magnitude tremor in western Iran on the Iraq border. Most of the damage and casualties were in Kermanshah Province.

Legislators and rescue workers say many survivors face shortages of heating appliances, tents, and plastic covers.

“The situation in earthquake-hit areas needs attention; otherwise, we are going to face a disaster worse that the earthquake itself,” MP Farhad Tajari said. He noted power outages and a lack of sanitary facilities and continued, “Unfortunately, because of the poor distribution of relief packages, some areas have enough food but not enough clothes and other districts have the opposite.”

MP Javad Hosseini Kia, who said the final death toll may surpass 1,000, said assistance efforts are disorganized and underfunded:

The government has no high capacity for financial aid. Therefore, it is only offering 50 million rials (about $1,250) in gratuitous financial aid for villagers and 60 million rials (aobut $1,500) for city dwellers.

With such minimal grants, people cannot get essential goods, let alone repair their damaged houses.

Hosseini Kia argued that, with many residents of the Mehr Housing Project already struggling to pay their mortgages, they are unlikely ever be able to repay loans for reconstruction.

Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, President Hassan Rouhani’s senior advisor and the head of the Planning and Budget Organization, repeated the plans for assistance:

The government will allocate roughly $160 million in loans and approximately $75 million as grants to households in quake-stricken Kermanshah Province.

Households in rural areas will receive [$6,200] in loans and [$1,250] as grants, while residents of urban areas will get loans to the tune of [$8,700] and grants worth [$1,500].

But the conservative outlet Tasnim reports, “A week after the earthquake hit Kermanshah Province, garbage and debris have built up in the streets, parks, and passages and around tents where survivors are sheltering.”

Ebrahim Shakiba of Kermanshah’s Medical Science University of Kermanshah explained, “The trash in quake-hit areas is not being properly collected, and the danger of a cholera outbreak looms over those districts.”

The Supreme Leader Visits

The Supreme Leader called on his regime to provide more aid as he spoke to residents in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab in Kermanshah on Monday: “I believe that officials should double their efforts.”

He compared the earthquake to the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988:

I feel the same pain that each of you have in your hearts. I would have liked to be among you at a better time.

I was also among you during the imposed war. You showed your mettle and endurance in the imposed war. Show it also today. The brave and heroic people stand and defeat the mishap.

During his visit to the area last Tuesday, President Rouhani claimed that corruption and mismanagement during the administration of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had left many Kermanshah residents vulnerable to the earthquake:

The houses built by people in the earthquake-stricken Sarpol-e Zahab region have remained standing while the government-built residential complexes next to them have easily collapsed. That indicates corruption in constructing residential buildings under the government supervision.

He promised, “We should find the culprits and people are waiting for us to introduce the culprits. We will do that, we will do that.”

The Ahmadinejad administration put up thousands of apartments in the region — part of a nationwide program of tens of thousands of “Mehr” public housing units — to provide cheap accommodation for low-income residents.

Supreme Leader’s Office Criticizes “Politicization” of Quake

In a rebuke of Rouhani, the Supreme Leader’s office has dismissed the President’s criticisms.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s representative Vahid Haghanian defended the Ahmadinejad-sponsored housing units, insisting that the buildings were safe and structurally sound. He chastised 1st Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri for “politicizing” the earthquake.

US Sanctions Entities and Individuals in Revolutionary Guards “Counterfeiting Ring”

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on four entities and individuals, accusing them of involvement in a scheme to fund the activities of the Revolutionary Guards with counterfeit currency.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control said the group circumvented European export control restrictions to obtain advanced equipment and materials to print counterfeit Yemeni banknotes potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.