Caritas Iran ready to help quake victims

(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.