Reported by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Golestan Province, March 25, 2019 – Reports indicate that the people of the northern provinces of Iran continue to reel under the pressure of flash floods that hit the region earlier this month. Meanwhile, there are signs that 10 Iranian provinces are under the threat of similar natural disasters.
Two thirds of Aqqala city in Golestan province has been submerged in water and to date, more than 10,000 residential units have been damaged due to the floods. 12 cities of this province have been affected by the floods. The situation in the cities of Miandorud, Simorgh, Juybar, Sari and Babol is critical.
At least 500 residential units have become uninhabitable. Many of the villages of the region don’t have access to potable water and the tribes in the region are surrounded by flood water. The flood-stricken areas also don’t have access to electricity.
The cities of Mazandaran province have lost access to purified water and their water sources are polluted. According to regime officials, the situation will continue for at least five more days.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), called on all Iranian compatriots to help the people of Mazandaran and Golestan. Mrs. Rajavi also stressed that the situation has become exacerbated by the corrupt policies and the mismanagement of regime officials.
The harrowing deaths of a large number of people including innocent children in the flood in #Golestan Province has deeply hurt the feelings of the people of #Iran.
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) March 22, 2019
The clerical regime’s destructive policies and plunder of Iranian people’s assets, wasting them on terrorism and war, have left our people defenseless in the face of natural disasters, afflicting them with damages and casualties much higher than the world’s average#Iran
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) March 22, 2019
The Iranian regime is faced with an intensifying wave of anger and outrage by the Iranian people toward its inaction and mismanagement of natural disasters. Fearing the eruption of widespread protests, the Iranian regime dismissed the governor of Golestan province and appointed his deputy as the new governor of the province.
The government of Hassan Rouhani tried to vindicate the regime and lay the blame for all the problems of the northern provinces on the dismissed governor. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Rouhani’s interior minister, said, “The governor has gone on holiday and has abandoned the province in the current situation, which is shameful. He has gone abroad to look after family issues. I had told him to only go if there was no problem.”
Some of the Iranian regime’s own media have called Rahmani Fazli’s remarks even more shameful than the behavior of Golestan’s governor and have called for his resignation.
Meanwhile, regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, called on his armed forces to use their capacity to help out the people of the flood-stricken region. But Khamenei’s armed forces are more preoccupied with meddling in the affairs of other countries and suppressing protests inside Iran. According to reports, armed forces have been dispatched to the flooded areas, but past history shows that the regime’s security forces are more concerned from preventing protests and news of disasters from reaching other areas.
State-run media are acknowledging that the regime has had a major role in causing the disaster, and its destructive policy in razing the forests of northern Iran have contributed to the current situation.
“The capacity of pastures in the region is just enough for just a quarter of the livestock. Authorities must tell us why they have released four times more livestock in the region than its natural resources can provision,” an expert said, adding that the reason these natural disasters recur is that non-expert persons are hired to manage the resources of the region. “400 acres of forests have been destroyed. This is a tragedy.”
Bushehr, Western Azerbaijan, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Kohgiluyeh and Buyer Ahmad, Fars, Hormozgan and Khorasan are other provinces that are threatened by floods.
The mismanagement of natural disasters is a recurring issue in Iran. In February, floods in southern provinces left the peope of the region in a similar situation. The regime's lack of provisions to prevent disasters and to manage them after they happen are causing great damage to the livelihoods of the people. In another tragic example, the people of Kermanshah province continue to suffer from harsh living conditions more than 18 months after they were hit by a devastating earthquake. The regime's relief efforts have been diastrous.
