Eyewitness
in Iran: Bam Disaster
And Beyond
By Jean Shaoul
World Socialist
Website
14 January
2004
On
a recent visit, I was fortunate to have just left Bam less than 24 hours
before the devastating earthquake hit the ancient city and surrounding
villages in southeast Iran, killing at least 32,000 people. The terrible
force of the quake and the aftershocks woke everyone 120 miles away
in Kerman, where I was staying.
It is difficult
to overestimate the social, economic and cultural impact of the earthquake
on Bam, while being shocked and saddened at the catastrophe. As Sadi,
the great thirteenth century Iranian poet, famously wrote:
The sons of man
are limbs of one another,
Created of the same stuff, and none other.
One limb by turn of time and fate distressed,
The others feel its pain and cannot rest.
Who unperturbed anothers grief can scan
Is no more worthy of the name of man
More than 90 percent
of this 2,000-year-old oasis town, surrounded by date palms, orange
orchards and henna in the desert separating Iran from Pakistan, has
been destroyed. Nearly half of the population died immediately, suffocated
as they waited for help in the rubble of their poorly constructed homes,
or froze to death without shelter. One-hundred-thousand people are now
homeless. The towns two hospitals and its orphanage were levelled.
Half the citys health care workers have been killed, hampering
the rescue operation.
The number of casualties
made Bam the worlds most catastrophic earthquake since that which
killed more than 250,000 people in the Chinese city of Tangshan in July
1976. Some survivors have been sleeping in tents close to the ruins
of their homes. Others preferred to remain close to their belongings
and where their loved ones perished. But now they could die of starvation
or cold as temperatures drop to freezing at night. They are in desperate
need of water and sanitation systems.
Tremors continue
to rock Bam and the surrounding area. As a United Nations official said,
The suffering of the people of Bam has just started.
Of Bams 40,000
childrenrepresenting half the citys populationat least
half are believed to have died in the earthquake. Of those that survived,
many are orphaned, having lost not just their parents but their extended
families as well. Aid workers fear they could end up in dreadful institutions.
As Brendan Paddy of Save the Children told Observer correspondent James
Astill, In one blow, thousands have been killed, injured or orphaned.
Children are always the most vulnerable and these are practically helpless.
Bam was a city beset
with social problems: isolation, poverty, high unemployment and drug
addiction. People with skills and education had long since moved out.
More recent migrants included members of the semi-nomadic Baluchi tribe.
Unemployment was well above the national average of 21 percent, and
now the few factories and workplaces that did exist have been destroyed.
Irans ingenious
qanat system destroyed
While the orchards
and palm trees are still standing, the quake has most probably destroyed
the ingenious system of underground canals or qanats that brought water
from the mountains to the townspeople and irrigated the fields and orchards.
The greenest fields amid the sandy steppe and desert are some of the
most enduring images of the Iranian landscape. Tens of thousands of
towns and villages exist thanks to this age-old technology believed
to have been devised 2,500 years ago at the time of the Persian ruler
Cyrus the Great.
A qanat is an underground
canal sometimes more than 100 kilometres in length and between 10 and
30 metres deep. A shaft would be sunk to the permanent subterranean
water level at the foot of snow-capped mountains. From there, a tunnel
would be dug to carry water to a village, an oasis or even a single
house. The tunnels would be lined with stone or tiles. Every 50 metres
or so, further shafts were dug to remove spoil and provide air for the
underground workers. The shafts are visible on the ground as a line
of molehill-like mounds.
It required enormous
skill and scientific understanding to achieve a straight line and the
precise slope for gravity to propel the flow of water, and the system
is testimony to the extraordinary level of culture achieved in ancient
Persia. Any failure of the qanats could lead to the death of the entire
village. The qanats are maintained to this day, and new ones are still
being built. Engineers and agronomists from other arid regions of the
world come to Iran to study this technique.
In areas such as
Bam where rainfall is less than 250 millimetres, qanats are the lifeblood
of the region. Without irrigation and industrialisation, it would mean
a return to the semi-nomadic life of yesteryear.
As well as levelling
the town, the quake has also destroyed what remained of the ancient
city and its sixteenth century citadel, called Arg-e-Bam. Its red clay
ruins are perched on a hill overlooking Bam. Covering an area of six
square kilometres, it is the largest mud brick construction in the world.
Typically Iranian are its sharply pointed broken arches, its domes,
its tapering towers and walled enclosures.
Bam served as a
caravanserai on the Silk Route. As such, it epitomised so much of ancient
Persia. Situated at the centre of the known world, it served as the
crossroads of the major trading routes, bringing the treasures of the
Far East to Persia and Europe. Indeed, it is sad to realise that Persiaits
poetry, literature, architecture, paradise gardens, miniatures and carpets,
to name but a few aspects of its rich cultural historyplayed such
a dominant role in the development of Western culture and yet is so
little known and understood today.
A walk along the
12-metre-high ramparts and 38 towers surrounding the large number of
houses and the seat of the governor was one of the most breathtaking
sights in the world. Right at the top was a watchtower and pavilion
that provided panoramic views over the endless desert to the north,
the oasis town of Bam to the east and an impenetrable mountain range
to the south.
While the old city
was an important frontier and commercial post trading in agricultural
produce, it fell to Afghan forces in 1719 and its economy never fully
recovered. The citadel was partially dismantled in the nineteenth century,
and many of its people were moved to a new residential area nearby,
also built of mud bricks. By 1958, few people remained in the old city
that had fallen into disrepair.
The Iranian authorities
brought in teams of architects, historians and builders to restore the
old quarter. As one of Irans top visitor attractions, the citadel
provided an important livelihood for this isolated and impoverished
town. Now that too has gone.
Earthquakes and
Iran
The same geological
processes that have created Irans mountains that rise up out of
the ground without warning or foothillsrather like Ayres Rock
in Australiahave also made Iran one of the most earthquake-prone
countries in the world. More than 70,000 people have died in quakes
since 1990. Apart from the two most well-known ones in 1990 and 1997,
there have been numerous quakes that have never made international headlines.
In 2002 alone, there
were two devastating earthquakes. In June 2002, an earthquake registering
6.2 on the Richter scale struck Iran. About 230 people died and nearly
1,500 were injured. Three-hundred-and-seventy-three villages and four
cities were affected. More than 33,000 homes were destroyed. The Iranian
government put the damage at around $257 million. As in Bam, the people
most affected were the poorestthose living in mud-brick houses
without the means to build quake-resistant structures.
In 1989, Iran drew up a seismic building code, but has failed to implement
it consistently. The record of two cities, Golbaf and Ghaen, illustrates
this. They were hit by quakes in the 1980s, rebuilt and hit again. In
Golbaf, a strong quake had caused 1,500 deaths in 1981 but just five
in 1991. In Ghaen, a second quake in 1997 killed another 1,500 people.
While the newly built homes had been designed to withstand quakes, the
difference in Ghaen was that the builders were allowed to cut corners.
Despite their history
of earthquakes, the Iranian authorities were unprepared for the Bam
quake. There were angry scenes on Iranian television as survivors railed
against the government for its slow response and total disregard for
safety standards. The English-language newspapers were full of criticisms
of the authorities.
While the quake
was a natural disaster, the scale of the devastation and the death toll
was man-made. More severe earthquakes than Bams 6.3 quake have
not had such tragic consequences.
Bams substandard
mud-brick housing and the governments failure to enforce the housing
regulations meant that, despite a worldwide rescue effort, few people
were brought out alive. The rubble that came down on top of them asphyxiated
them. While the government tried to deflect criticism from itself by
pointing the finger at sloppy builders, everyone blamed the government
for failing to regulate the builders and enforce their own standards.
I and other members
of my party of tourists went immediately to the Red Crescent in Kerman
where volunteers were organising the earthquake relief. Government teams
and the clergy were nowhere to be seen. We found that people and shops
had brought blankets and clothing. Trucks were leaving every few minutes
for Bam. We offered to give blood, but were turned down. There were
simply no facilities. We had raised several hundred dollars, but the
Red Crescent was insistent that we go to the bank and put the money
into its bank account to make sure that it did not go astray. Everywhere
we went we saw collection points for money and provisions.
The Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, and President Muhammad Khatami
and their rival cliques went to Bam three days later. But they had little
to offer. Khamanei pledged that the town would be rebuilt stronger
than ever within the next two years. But that did not convince
anyone.
The UN Flash Appeal
report says that it will cost between $700 million and $1 billion to
rebuild the city. While it appealed to the international donors for
relief, it said that most would have to come from the Iranian government.
Most of the survivors have already gone back to the villages their families
had left a generation ago.
Khatami did not
even try to make any bold claims. He said that the scale of the tragedy
was so profound that the relief provided by the government and the people
could not meet the demands of the victims.
The Islamic Republics
political base
The mullahs
political base lies with the bazaaris, the merchants who control much
of Irans retail trade, import-export trade and credit system.
The Iranian bazaar
has a long history dating back to the fifth century, when public marketplaces
moved inside the city walls. Over the centuries, they grew into entire
communities, complete with shops, teahouses, restaurants, bathhouses,
mosques, religious schools and caravanserai. They also developed into
financial centres, with their own banking, credit and investment systems.
Tehrans Grand Bazaar functions as both a stock exchange and a
commodities market.
Far from being simple
market traders, the bazaaris stalls are just a front for their
real businesses. It costs millions of rials, or hundreds of thousands
of US dollars, to get a place in the bazaars. The combination of Irans
banking system, which prohibits usury or interest, anduntil 2001a
system of multiple exchange rates means that the bazaaris act as moneylenders
and use their position and powerful connections to buy currency at lower
rates than the free market and thus import goods at costs far lower
than domestic prices.
There has always
been a close relationship between the bazaaris and the clerics. While
the clerics needed the financial support of the bazaaris to fund the
mosques and religious schools, the bazaaris needed the clerics to maintain
their social standing. Their wealth and close links with the clergy
gives them enormous political power. Whenever there is a major political
crisis, the bazaar shuts down, paralysing economic and social life.
It was the bazaaris that were instrumental in getting rid of the Shah
and bringing the mullahs to power in 1978-79 in order to suppress the
working class.
For years after
the 1979 revolution, the relationship between the clergy and the bazaar
was strong. This has been changing in recent years due to the elimination
of the system of multiple exchange rates, anti-profiteering campaigns
against the bazaaris, and a plummeting economy as the fall in oil prices,
the long war against Iraq, and US led sanctions against Iran took their
toll.
Social conditions
The mullahs preside
over massive inequality and social problems. GDP per capita has fallen
by 30 percent since the 1970s, while inequalityalways highhas
soared to obscene levels. There is high unemployment. Independent trade
unions are nonexistent and strikes are illegal. Inflation is rampant.
The exchange rate gives some indication of this: there are about 9,000
rials to the US dollar.
Housing is scarce
and costly. Several families share single-family accommodation. The
population has almost doubled since 1978-79 and is approaching 70 million.
Two thirds are under 30, and half are under 20. Not surprisingly, more
than 200,000 young people leave Iran every year.
Two thirds of the
population now live in the towns and cities, compared with just 31 percent
in the late 1950s, adding to the pressure on housing, schools and jobs.
Twelve million live in the capital, Tehran. Drab high-rise, shoddily
constructed buildings in poorly designed developments have shot up everywhere.
Many have already fallen into disrepair, while others are derelict.
For the last 10
years, Iran has had the largest refugee population in the world, estimated
at 3 million at any one time. Most fled to Iran to escape the civil
wars and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and live in the towns and
villages of eastern Iran. But many moved to the cities, such as Shiraz
in southwest Iran, in search of work. Kurdish refugees have also fled
to Iran from the ethnic conflicts in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey,
while others have fled the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh (Azerbaijan),
northwest of Iran.
Drug taking is one
way of inuring oneself to the desperate social crisis. Bordering on
Afghanistan, where most of the worlds opium, morphine and hashish
are produced, Iran has easy access to drugs. According to government
officials, more than 2 million Iranians take drugs (four tonnes of narcotics
a day). Addiction is plain to see in the poorest neighbourhoods. The
number of deaths is rising fast. Some 1,276 were reported in March-September
2002, a 58 percent increase over the same period in 2001. According
to a recent Economist survey on Iran, 12 policemen are killed every
month in a war against drugs that costs $800 million a year. Over 60
percent of crime is drug-related and over 70 percent of AIDS cases,
which are increasing fast, come from contaminated syringes.
Women and children
are particularly vulnerable. It was with the utmost horror that I read
in the newspapers that more than 15,000 homeless children had been mopped
up in different cities during the first six months of the year.
Nearly 13,000 of these were in the capital, almost 10 times the number
in the previous year. Apparently, there are 200,000 officially acknowledged
street children. Later I was to see them with my own eyes on the streets
of Tehran.
Only 12 percent
of the workforce are women, so they face a particularly poverty-stricken
existence. There are a staggering 1.7 million homeless women. Most of
them receive no welfare payments, and so, not surprisingly, prostitution
is on the increase. Iran is said to have 300,000 prostitutes.
Iran is always portrayed
as a deeply religious country that blindly follows the laws of the mullahs.
But like so much else in Western propaganda regarding Iran, this is
misleading. The mullahs may control the political establishment, set
the school curriculum, outlaw alcohol, ban satellite television, censure
the Internet, Western films, books and newspapers, and demand that women
adopt the hideous Islamic dress code, but that does not
mean they have the support of the broad mass of the population.
It was absolutely
clear that both of the clerical factions, the conservatives and the
so-called reformers, are deeply unpopular and treated with
contempt. They are widely seen as corrupt and incompetent. The mullahs
are sitting on a social powder keg and are forced to suppress opposition
with the utmost brutality.
The London-based
human rights organisation Amnesty International, in its 2002 report,
said that scores of political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience,
have been arrested. Others continue to be held in prolonged detention
without trial, or were serving jail sentences imposed after unfair trials.
Some had no access to lawyers or to their families. The judiciary continued
to restrict freedom of expression and association, and scores of students,
journalists and intellectuals were detained. At least 113 people, including
long-term political prisoners, were executed, frequently in public and
some by stoning. A further 84 were flogged, many in public.
According to Reporters
Sans Frontieres, a Paris-based monitoring group, Iran had more journalists
in prison in 2000 than any other country.
The earthquake at
Bam, the result of a natural disaster cruelly exacerbated by a regime
that has sought to suppress all political opposition and social dissent,
has exposed the real relations between the government and the people.
No faction of the
Iranian ruling class can resolve the immense problems of the region.
That requires the development of a political movement to unite the peoples
of the Middle East against their ruling elites and for the building
of a socialist society. The creation of a United Socialist States of
the Middle East would remove the artificial borders that divide the
peoples and economies of the region so as to enable its vast resources
to be used to satisfy the needs of all the people.