Parliamentarian: Many Children Severely Ill in Earthquake-Hit Sarab Areas
Youssef Davudi, representative of Sarab in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, reported a widespread outbreak of “common cold” among many children in earthquake-affected areas of Sarab, stating that the bodies of these children have become “severely chilled.”
According to a report by ISNA news agency on Saturday (November 8), Davudi, during a crisis management session at the East Azerbaijan governorate, added that “given the weather conditions in the earthquake-hit areas of Sarab County, people are severely ill and we need at least seven to eight teams of general practitioners to go to the patients.”
Referring to the significantly low temperatures in Sarab, he criticized the lack of electric heaters for temporary shelter tents of earthquake victims and said that on Saturday, “we were close to losing five people due to carbon monoxide poisoning from heating equipment in the tents.”
Davudi also reported the death of two people from carbon monoxide inhalation in tents and listed “the need for hot food, provision of safe heating that causes no harm to people, and the increase of diseases such as common cold” as major problems for earthquake-affected areas.
ISNA news agency also reported on Sunday (November 9), citing Farzad Rahmani, head of pre-hospital emergency services at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, about the survival of a 15-day-old baby whose parents died the previous day from carbon monoxide poisoning.
According to Mr. Rahmani, “the invisible killer did not defeat the 15-day-old earthquake victim” and he is currently in “good physical condition.”
As this official announced, so far “23 earthquake victims in the province have suffered gas poisoning due to non-compliance with safety measures.”
According to the report, 720 people have been injured as a result of an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale in Mianeh, with the main cause of injuries being fleeing from earthquake-damaged homes and stress; of this number, 450 injured were from Sarab County and the remainder from Mianeh.
The earthquake, which struck the city of Turk in Mianeh County, East Azerbaijan Province at 2:17 a.m. on Friday (November 7), has so far claimed five lives.
According to the governor of East Azerbaijan, the earthquake caused damage ranging from 10 to 100 percent to more than 2,300 residential units and resulted in the loss of more than 1,500 head of livestock.
Another report indicates that Ali Larijani, speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, requested that relevant ministries “build shelter for them more quickly” after examining the needs of earthquake victims.
Larijani, referring to the assignment of a mission to the Infrastructure Commission to send delegations to earthquake-hit areas of Mianeh and Sarab, and considering the cold weather in these areas, added: “The Housing Foundation and Red Crescent need to make serious efforts. The Ministry of Interior should also carry out its work carefully.”
Source: Radbo Faraa
