This past Saturday, August 11th Iran suffered two earthquakes. The first one being a magnitude of 6.4 and the second one occurring eleven minutes later was a magnitude of 6.3. Both earthquakes occurred in the East Azarbaijan Province. These two severe earthquakes have killed over 300 people and have injured over 3000. The most damages occurred in the cities of Ahar, Haris and Varzaqan; destroying more than seventy percent of these cities. These areas have experienced multiple aftershocks and the residents have been advised to sleep outside. Officials the next day, Sunday, after the incident cleared the search and rescue stating that everyone in the need of help had been rescued. This contradicts an article in the Asr-e Iran newspaper that 24 hours after the incident occurred said there were still citizens in need of aid and assistance. Many countries and organizations have tried to contribute and offer assistance to Iran. The country has denied the help and feels that there is no need for additional assistance as the country has everything under control, which many citizens feel is untrue and impossible. The president has also been criticized for leaving the country today Monday, August 13th to Saudi Arabia for a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation almost two days after the incident occurred. This is not seen as normal because leaders of an affected country after a natural disaster will visit the areas where the disaster occur in order to show support and empathy towards the residents affected. Residents of this particular area have also criticized that the nation’s capital government and the state-run television channel for not publicizing the damages as soon as they got wind of the information of the disaster in the East Azarbaijan Province than much later after the disaster.
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| Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/thumb/msid-15468384,width-400,height-300,resizemode-4/twin-earthquakes-hit-iran-227-killed-injured-1380.jpg |
The aftermath of this disaster has shown that the government of Iran especially the president has no regard for his own country and the image it portrayed (him leaving the country barely two days after the incident) contributed to the notion that the president just does not care . This comes to prove that if Iran’s leader has no interest for its own country when will it ever have an interest in having a good relationship with the rest of the world. The way the president showed no compassion towards his own constituents raises the question of how a meeting in Saudi Arabia could be more important than the welfare of the citizens during their time of need. Also why did the Organization of Islamic Cooperation not cancel the meeting in respect of this disaster. This also shows the insensitivity of most of the realm as many of the nations within this organization are apart of the same realm as Iran. This country has very little hope for sustainability because the government does not take any responsibility for the general well being of its citizens or the country they live in. Their actions during this disaster are only examples of the behavior they exhibit towards the citizens on a daily basis. If I was a resident of Iran I would be resentful because of the government's lack of action during the citizens time of need.
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