Aid agencies prepare to deploy to Iran in case they are asked to help

Within hours of disaster striking in northern Iran and Iraq on Sunday night, aid agencies in the country scrambled into action while overseas organisations began to plan how they could best help the victims of the earthquake.

“The Iranian Red Crescent Society has deployed response teams, with equipment for shelter, first aid, and search and rescue in the aftermath of the earthquake, to the affected cities,” said Ms Mansoureh Bagheri, IRCS director for international operations.

A counterpart at the Iraqi Red Crescent Society described operations in that country. “Immediately after the earthquake, we have deployed our teams to evacuate the injured and provide first aid to the affected communities. Our teams are working around the clock in the affected areas”, said Mohamad Khosaii.

As the Iranian authorities have indicated that they have no need for assistance immediately, the focal point for organisations outside the country has been to prepare to give assistance if and when they are called upon.

Turkey’s Red Crescent was sending 3,000 tents and blankets to the afflicted areas of Iran, according to Anadolu News Agency. The country’s disaster management agency Afad was also sending containers of aid. “Turkey stands ready to provide search-and-rescue teams,” foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted.

Medecins Sans Frontieres already had staff in the region, at the Sulaymaniyah Emergency Hospital in northern Iraq, where they support the emergency room and the intensive care unit, which received 80 cases related to the earthquake.

“The patients were suffering from minor injuries such as cuts, scratches, small fractures and anxiety,” an MSF spokesman said. “[Our] teams are monitoring the situation closely. We have teams ready to respond if required.”

Lise Grande, humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq at the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs, said that “our priority right now is to help local authorities respond as quickly as possible. An assessment team has just arrived in Darbandikhan, one of the areas worst affected”.

“[Yesterday] morning, the World Health Organisation sent an immediate response team and two ambulances to Sulaymaniyah Hospital, the primary hospital in the area, along with trauma and surgical kits,” Ms Grande said. Other organisations were gearing up to help. Muslim Aid, a UK-based international relief and development agency that works in more than 70 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, was planning its response.

“We are responding to the earthquake to assist those in need,” said Zac Hussain, the agency’s business development director.

Mark Nicholson of the UK-based relief agency Shelterbox, told The National that they are standing by for any request for assistance.