New schools opened by Irish Red Cross in Iran

The opening of the new schools represents the culmination of three years of hard work, according to the Secretary General of the Irish Red Cross, Ms Carmel Dunne who, together with the Vice-Chairman, Tony Lawlor, is representing the Irish Red Cross at the ceremony.

The two new schools will cater for approximately 350 pupils each. They are just two of nine schools that are being built in Bam by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

Over a hundred schools were flattened by the earthquake, which killed 26,000 people and injured 30,000 people. The earthquake also levelled hospitals and health centres.

Subsequent seismic events, notably the tsunami which took place on the exact same date one year later (26 December 2004) and the Pakistan earthquake towards the end of 2005, may be seen to have dwarfed the impact of the Bam earthquake.

Yet the tragedy of the loss of tens of thousands of people and virtually all of the city’s homes and infrastructure - 85% of buildings - caused intense suffering.

The Irish Red Cross launched an immediate appeal for the people of Bam. This money was used to pay for emergency supplies, such as tarpaulins for shelter, blankets, cooking utensils, soap and other necessities.

To arrange an interview with Carmel Dunne, please contact Aoife Mac Eoin on 087 - 998 3788.
See over for background and itinerary.

Background

• Earthquake on 26 December 2003
• Measured 6.5 on the Richter scale
• Duration 12 seconds
• Destroyed the ancient citadel of Bam, southeastern Iran.
• 85% of the city’s buildings were completely destroyed.
• 75,000 homeless
• 26,000 killed
• 30,000 injured.
• All of Bam’s health structures - 95 health houses, 14 rural health centres and 10 urban health centres as well as general hospitals - were destroyed in the earthquake along with 131 schools.
• Bam is on the drug smuggling route from Afghanistan and Pakistan and some of the drugs are consumed locally. Following the earthquake, there was a dramatic increase in drug use. This has complicated post-disaster rehabilitation and provided an additional challenge for psychological support programmes
• Some 28.000 people have benefitted from Red Crescent psychological support programmes in Bam.
• Many of these activities are attended by young women. One symptom of psychological stress is increased aggressive behaviour, which has resulted in an increase in domestic violence in the earthquake zone.
• Other symptoms of stress include sleep disorders, difficulty to concentrate, explosive behaviour and reexperiencing the quake.
• Bam is located on a main earthquake fault line.
• In Iran, which is ranked as the fourth most disaster prone country in the world, this was the worst earthquake to hit the country in more than a decade.
  The Irish Red Cross launched an immediate appeal for the people of Bam. This money was used to pay for emergency supplies, such as tarpaulins for shelter, blankets, cooking utensils, soap and other necessities.
  However, one of the long-term investments undertaken by the Irish Red Cross was funding for two new schools. These schools are now complete and each school will have a roll-call of about 350 people.
  The schools being built by the Irish Red Cross are just two of the total of nine schools being built by Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations from around the world.
  The Secretary General of the Irish Red Cross, Carmel Dunne and the Vice-Chairman of the Irish Red Cross, Tony Lawlor, are in Iran and will attend the opening ceremony of the schools.

The opening ceremony takes place tomorrow, WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER

Inauguration Ceremony 6.30am* (All times given are IRISH times based on Iran being GMT + 3.5 hours)
Press Conference: 8am
(Followed by visit to schools).
Break: 9.30am
Visit to locality
Break 4pm