Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, October 5, 2019—Heavy rainfall on Thursday, October 3, led to rising flood waters near the cities of Jask, Bashagerd and Minab of Hormozgan Province, southern Iran. As a result, in two separate incidents, two vehicles suffered severe falls into the flowing waters in eastern sectors of the province and unfortunately resulted in the deaths of five individuals, including one woman and a child. The dead bodies were found by locals on Friday morning.
Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi, head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) coalition, sent a message urging Iranians to provide support for the flood-hit areas.
“I urge all my fellow compatriots to rush to the aid of the flood-hit residents of Hormuzgan Province where a number of our countrymen have lost their lives. After 40 years, the clerical regime has brought nothing to the people of Iran except devastation, destruction, and plunder,” Maryam Rajavi said.
I urge all my fellow compatriots to rush to the aid of the flood-hit residents of Hormuzgan Province where a number of our countrymen have lost their lives.
After 40 years, the clerical regime has brought nothing to the people of #Iran except devastation, destruction and plunder— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 4, 2019
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Flash floods overtook Iran's provinces including the Golestan and Mazandaran provinces in March and April of this year.
At the cusp of the Iranian New Year celebrations, Golestan and Mazandaran provinces faced one of the worst floods in their history.
The flood started after two days of heavy rainfall. According to government stats, over nine people were killed, including two children. More than 10,000 houses were caught in the floods; 70 communicative roads were cut off, and 23,000 people were trapped in the floods.
"The damage to the agricultural sector is estimated at $315 million in Golestan and Mazandaran province,” said Mohammad Mousavi, secretary of the Crisis Management and Risk Mitigation Office.
The Iranian regime did nothing to protect the people despite warnings by the weather organization.
According to the Entekhab state-run news agency, Manaf Hashemi, the governor of Golestan went on vacation abroad during the flood crisis.
The Iranian regime’s relief efforts were very limited, and most of the help to Iran flood 2019 victims came from voluntary aid by fishermen and farmers.
What were the reasons for the Golestan/Mazandaran floods?
The reason wasn’t the heavy rainfall alone, and the floods could have been easily managed.
One of the main reasons is deforestation and the looting of the natural resources of northern Iran by regime officials and its organizations, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The reasons for deforestation by the Iranian regime’s elements and officials are:
-Profiteering from selling wood;
-Constructing expensive houses for regime officials;
-Razing the forest to use the land for building factories.
The head of Mazandaran Natural Resources Department Vajihollah Mousavi exposed that, "We can see the villas pop up in faraway lands of Mazandaran owned by a former MPs or high-ranking officials… These villas have been raised in the middle of untouched country land and mountains."
In 2012, the FAO declared that Iran's forests are being destroyed at a higher speed than anywhere else in the world.
"Iran's northern forest has been reduced by 50% from 40 years ago. When we destroyed half of the forests, then rainfall is no more a gift but every rainfall strikes a flood,” said Massoud Molana, a member of the Coordinating Council of National Natural Resources."
The ISNA state-run news agency also quoted Anoushiravan Najafi, deputy chief of the natural environment in the Environment Protection Organization, saying, "6,603 acres of Iran's northern forests are completely being destroyed every year.”
The second factor that played an essential role in Golestan/Mazandaran floods was Iranian regime authorities refraining from dredging dams and rivers.
"Sediments have filled Golestan dams, but authorities haven't taken any measure to dredge up the dams. The result was that the dams could not hold the floods and quickly overflow, releasing the floodwaters toward populated lands.” (State-run news website Rouydad24)
For example, half of the Voshmgir dam had been filled with sediments. The regime was supposed to solve the dam's problems during a 5-year timetable since 2008. Ten years later, a mere 15% of the project has been fulfilled.
A simple study in the Iranian regime's budget shows the regime's priorities. Figures clarify that not only the mullahs are not attempting to improve the Iranian people's welfare, they’re also spending the country's wealth and budget to maintain their dictatorship:
The IRGC's budget for suppression and expansion of terrorism: $4.8 billion
The regime's annual financial aid to Lebanese Hezbollah: $800 million
The mullahs' educational centers: $644 million
Iran's natural resources budget: $77.5 million
The budget needed for improvement of Voshmgir dam in Golestan: $13 million
So, as long as this dictatorship exists, such disasters will recur.
