Nearly 300,000 Flood Victims Housed in Emergency Shelters: Iranian Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of Iran’s Relief and Rescue Organization Morteza Salimi said relief operations continue in flood-stricken provinces of the country and that about 300,000 people have been accommodated in emergency shelters.
“Relief efforts are continuing in the provinces of Ilam, Golestan, Khuzestan, Razavi Khorasan, North Khorasan, Kerman, Sistan and Balouchestan, South Khorasan and Lorestan,” Salimi said on Saturday.
He added that more than 290,000 people have been housed in emergency shelters and 8345 others have been transferred to safe areas.
The remarks came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani plans to visit flood-stricken areas in the western and southwestern parts of the country.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session, the president's Chief of Staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, said Rouhani is going to travel to Lorestan and Khuzestan to deal with the people’s problems in person.
Amid unprecedented torrential rains in northern, western and southwestern Iran that killed at least 77 people, the military forces mobilized efforts to help people trapped in the flood-affected areas and evacuate residents in the regions with an emergency situation.
Record spring rainfall that has battered Iran in the past weeks caused serious flooding in many areas, mainly the provinces of Golestan, Lorestan, Khuzestan, Fars and Ilam, forcing thousands to leave their homes.
While residents in some western areas are still in need of relief aid, the Army Ground Force, the IRGC, and Basij have deployed forces, heavy military machinery, aircraft and boats to the disaster zones.
