(August 13, 2012) Caritas Iran, the charity arm of the tiny Catholic Church in Iran
has expressed its readiness to bring aid to the victims of Saturday’s devastating
twin quakes in remote northwest Iran. Despite the distance of around 600 kms between
Caritas headquarters in Teheran and the region around Tabriz, Caritas is in contact
with authorities in the affected region to supply emergency aid. The small staff
of Caritas in Iran has great experience in providing emergency help to victims of
earthquake in the country which unfortunately is frequently hit by such disasters,
noted Caritas Italy. Iran’s government immediately swung into action with helicopters
and ambulances and serves as reference for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who
want to join in relief operations. Since the 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude quakes hit the
region near the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia, over 300 have died. Caritas
Iran was born primarily with help from Caritas Italy in the emergency relief operations
following the 1990 earthquake in Roudbar and subsequent quakes in later years. Caritas
Italy continues to support its Iranian counterpart which has a paid staff of 200 people
and some 2000 volunteers, who run both emergency operations as well long-term programmes.