3. - usaid

Prime Minister Hoveyda flew to the stricken areas to make a first hand
study of the damage and to give on-the-spot orders for relief. He was
accompanied by Ministers of the Interior, Agriculture, Roads, and Health,
and by the Agricultural Bank president. The Shah ordered hour-by-hour
reports made to him personally. The Ministry of Interior was on 24-hour
alert. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs set up a special earthquake
information desk to answer foreign inquiries and direct offers of help to
the proper channels. The Ministry of Health sent a large supply of dislnfectant
to help avoid outbreaks of disease. The Imperial Army put all
of its available water tankers on the road to bring water to villages with
blocked or destroyed water systems. All Red Lion and Sun Society (RLSS)
offices were placed on a 24-hour emergency alert. The Sixth Division of
the Army garrisoned in Meshed dispatched more than 3,000 troops, 400 trucks,
doctors and supplies to work in an estimated 2,000 square kilometer area.
Fully equipped teams of sanitary experts were commissioned to work in the
field, and a mass campaign to disinfect and to sterilize water was undert
aken .
Iranian Army trucks were pressed into service to transfer thousands of injured
victims to hospitals in Gonabad, Torbat, and Heidarieh, and to field hospitals
established by the Army and other agencies.
The first plane carrying tents, blankets, food, drugs, and other supp:lies
landed in the disaster area at 4 p.m. September 1. All vehicles moving
through southern Khorassan from Zahedran, Birjand, Zabol, and Meshed were
stopped and asked to camy the injured and dead to field hospitals or graveyards.
On the night of the first earthquake, the Army rushed four trucks of
first aid supplies provided by RLSS to the disaster area, along with a
medical team, an ambulance, and two tankers of water to Kakh. The fo1Llowing
morming, it also dispatched two companies of infantry, eight trucks, j?our
mobile kitchens, 20 ambulances, and additional medical teams. Two field
hospitals were airlifted September 1 and set up at Kakh where the death toll
and damage were so heavy. Each field hospital was equipped to care for 300
wounded victims at a given time. On Septernber 2, four field hospital uni.ts
(with 10 surgeons, 50 nurses and 120 beds) and three tons of medicines were
delivered to the disaster area. The Tehran Sanitary Engineering Depar'tment
flew in eight medical teams, five surgeons, five ambulances with nurses and
anesthesia experts. The RLSS sent 13 emergency rescue units to the stricken
areas. Later new medical teams composed of volunteer physicians and surgeons
were fomd to reinforce those already in the field. The medical staff
of Tehran's Sina Hospital called on colleagues to register for service in
medical teams. There was an immediate and great need for blood transf'usions.
Blood was flown in as needed by the RLSS. Rnpress Famh herself gave blood
for victims of the earthquakes. As word spread that the hpress had done
this, many people in Tehran lined up to give blood. In the days following
the earthquakes, the flow and quantity of disaster supplies from domestic
sources rapidly accelerated, supplemented by international assistance.
Following the initial movement of aid to the disaster areas, the RLSS assumed
the leading relief role that had been carried by the Imperial Amy. Coments
were later made on the improved administrative techniques of the RLSS compared
to operations during the 1962 Qazvin disaster.
-154-