Flag, driving

Ali Sayed

university lecturer

Ali Seyed is on his way home.  He's a  local boy, but he now  teaches religion in the city.  Ali doesn't recognise Abiz, the village he left a few years ago.

10.13.54.00

Ali's brothers

On the road home, Ali sees his two brothers, Hossein and Mohammad.

14.53

In front of the ruins of their childhood home, Ali and his brothers talk over what's happened.

15.21

Ali Seyed

ALI SEYED:  The ruin you can see here was my parent's house. And now, that's all that's left of it.

14.41

ALI SEYED:  Just before the earthquake, my parents had come back from Mecca.  They had brought  back lots of presents for the family and friends.  They had invited everyone round to eat with them, so they were at home in their house when it happened

15.57

Procession

It took just ten minutes on that fateful 10^th of May, to destroy Abiz completely, including the home of Ali's parents.  The quake that shook eastern Iran killed 180 people in this village alone.  Ali has taken advantage of the holiday for the Imam Khomeyni's birthday celebration, two weeks after the catastrophe, to organise a convoy to help his village, bringing both the vital necessities for survival and prayers.

16.15

Brothers standing

Mohammad, the youngest of the Seyed brothers, still lives in Abiz.  When the earthquake struck, he was teaching at the village secondary school.  After helping the pupils get out, he rushed to find his parents.

16.44

Mohammad

MOHAMMAD SEYED:  I heard groans coming from the sitting room in the house, over there.  I went to where the noises were coming from.  There was crying and screaming I shouted and screamed.  I followed the sound of the voices.  I could hear  them shouting, ‘ Mr Hassan, Mr Hassan, help us!'  But next day I realised that Mr Hassan had been  buried too.  I ran round the place three times, looking everywhere, but the third time I couldn't hear any more sounds.  And an hour later when the staff from the school came, we got my parents out.  They  were lying facing Mecca.

16.57

Scribing

The death toll from earthquakes in Iran is endless :  10,000 dead in 1968,  25,000 in 1978,  40,000 in 1990...

18.12

Geologically speaking,  the country is caught between the Arabian and Asiatic tectonic plates, as surely as if it was stuck between hammer and anvil.  The people and authorities are used to acting quickly when a quake strikes.  The Red Crescent Society coordinates national aid.  They access stocks of emergency equipment and food which are rapidly sent to disaster areas.  But this time stocks were practically exhausted, and Iran called on the international community for help.

18.32

Michael walking across road

Michael Von der Schulenburg, coordinator of the United Nations Disaster Response Plan for Iran, coordinated the international aid effort.

19.12

Michael Von der Schulenburg

UNDP resident representative

Coordinator, UN Disaster Response Plan

MICHAEL VON DER SCHULENBERG: If you ask me what the role of the United Nations here in Iran is, I would say that it is to provide a framework for the international community to provide assistance faster and more effectively.  That is the main contribution.  Iran has a lot of experience of dealing with disasters, particularly these natural disasters such as the recent earthquakes, and they are very effective in  responding.  I think we have to adjust our work to the country's requirement.  It think we are not here to be seen.  I think what we're doing here ...  we are working very closely with the National Disaster Task Force.

19.21

Mohammad in tent

A few kilometres from Abiz, the governor of Hajiabad's office has also been damaged. He's now living  and working in a tent.  His job is to organise the local emergency aid effort, and to distribute food supplies and equipment where they're needed.  This time it's a woman living alone with her wounded son who's come to ask for a tent for shelter from the bitter wind and cold.  She's had to wait two hours but she's got what she wanted.

20.06

Old woman

Many countries responded to the plea for help from Iran and the United Nations.  But its more than food, money and expert help that have been passed on to the disaster victims...

20.46

Mohammad in tent

Mohammad Afzal Jani

Hajiabad district governor

MOHAMMAD AFZAL JANI:  I wish to thank all the countries and all the organisations who have helped us.  They have done a great job.  In any crisis situation, even if a country can manage by itself, the fact that support is coming in from all over the place, the sense that people are reaching out a hand... it's really heart-warming.

20.58

Digging through rubble

And the people of Abiz and Hajiabad, who have lost love ones,  really need support as they dig through the rubble, hunting for traces of personal possessions ...  a photograph... anything useful that can be saved.  It's not just the houses that have crumbled here, it's the economy of the whole region.

21.33

Reza Mozdoori

salesman

REZA MOZDOORI:  I've lost all my money you see.  I have to use anything I can find to build up some capital.  During the months to come I'll try to sell this electrical cable.  I've got nothing else.  It all depends on what else I can find underneath here.

21.58

View of Sheikh

Sheikh (pronounced Sherrh) a small village in the north, suffered  a similar catastrophe just a few months before Abiz and Hajiabad. Fifteen people died in the tremor that hit this area.  To stop such events repeating themselves with the same disastrous consequences, the Iranian government has called on the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, to draw up  specifications for architects and engineers carrying out the reconstruction work.

22.22

Morteza supervising work

Morteza Zadeh is one of the engineers involved. He's supervising the reconstruction of the new village of Sheikh, It's being rebuilt in the same place because there is apparently less chance of a repeat tremor here.

22.48

Morteza Zadeh

engineer Housing Foundation

MORTEZA ZADEH:  Before when there was an earthquake, houses built out of reinforced concrete and steel were completely destroyed.  But these houses, even the ones made of earth or clay, were built according to the new principles we're using, and they've stood up much better.

23.06

MORTEZA ZADEH: I've told them to make sure that they don't make the cement between the bricks too thick.  So when you look at the house from a distance, the walls will look nice and uniform.

23.34

The new houses being built through the Iranian Government's Housing Foundation each have two rooms of 20 square metres.  Morteza Zadeh makes sure that rules on vertical and horizontal stability are respected.  In other words,  the roof, at least, should not fall in on the occupants.

23.56

Morteza, boys on donkey

MORTEZA ZADEH:  The Iranian government provides financial support for earthquake victims.  Its done through the Housing Foundation.  The victims are given 2 million rials, part of it paid directly to build a new house.  The other part is paid in cash so they can buy the things they need.  But the first help they get is obviously the emergency aid provided by the Red Crescent.

24.18

Walking to tent

In makeshift schools set up in tents in the villages hit  by the quake, classes have re-started.

24.57

Class repeating teachers message

Class: Compassionate and merciful. We want the government to rebuild our destroyed houses. To rebuild our agriculture.

25.06

There's a strong sense of mobilisation and action in Iran, and an even stronger sense of solidarity.  No one denies it.  Certainly not Morteza who sees the way the villagers are working together to rebuild their homes.

25.19

Jani in tent

And not Governor Jani either, alone in his tent carrying out the daily tasks of administration.

25.36

Ali sitting against wall

Still less Ali, his parents dead, who's come to help his brothers and sisters in the village of his birth.

23.54

ENDS

23.23