This is not a complete Farsi text, as it only contains a caption for an image. Without the context of the image or any surrounding text, it is impossible to accurately translate it into English. Please provide the full text for a proper translation.Amir Chamani

His name is flood. A destructive flood whose destructive power is owed to human foolishness. The general public, influenced by mainstream media, call it a natural disaster and officials – from the president to Friday prayer leaders and ministers – consider it a divine blessing; that has come to enrich water reserves, solve the problem of water scarcity, and boost agriculture. But it is clear that calling this calamity a blessing is a cover-up for the lack of crisis management and the inability to respond to the thoughts of the public and the people, who have lost everything in their lives except for the clothes they were wearing when they fled from the flood, and only have memories and mental images of their homes, lives, and past. So it is natural for them to see these disastrous floods, caused by the incompetence of officials and relevant institutions, as natural and beyond control and management, and to shift the responsibility from themselves and place it on the heavens.

The flood, which has been going on for a month from Golestan to Lorestan, Khuzestan, Khorasan, and Shiraz, has taken the lives of dozens of people, made dozens of people disappear, destroyed thousands of homes, and ruined the lives of thousands of people, leaving them homeless in tents, trains, and temporary shelters. Only a small part of it has been due to the recent heavy rainfall. What has caused the damage is the lack of prediction and preparedness to control and manage the flood. From improper maintenance of dams, to not dredging canals and waterways, and destruction of the environment, deforestation, uncontrolled construction, changing the course of rivers, the terrible condition of bridges, and ignoring official regulations and rules to prevent floods and other natural disasters that have turned into an irreparable tragedy due to years of mismanagement by humans. Ultimately, the disregard for ecological balance and everything that humans can do to exacerbate the consequences of such

On the other hand, environmental activists who were protesting against the destruction of the environment and disrupting the balance of nature were arrested and faced security measures. Despite their warnings and predictions based on their expertise, if their words had been heeded, perhaps many damages could have been prevented.

David Harvey says that “there is nothing natural about natural disasters. Natural disasters are social and class events. This becomes clear when we examine the effects of a hurricane or earthquake on different classes under a microscope. In Hurricane Katrina, it was the poor and marginalized (mostly African-Americans) who died or were left bankrupt. Such marginalized communities usually live in more vulnerable areas with lower property values, less information, unreliable infrastructure, and weaker social support (such as insurance). Rescue operations, emergency services, and financial aid usually come last, if at all, to these individuals.”

In the recent nationwide flood, except for the case of Shiraz, all other incidents had a clear class nature. The destruction of the flood affected villages located along the rivers, or parts of cities that are on the outskirts. The Kolabad neighborhood in Aqqala, located on the southern outskirts of the city, had the highest level of destruction and flooding. The usual outskirts and Poldokhtar, which were built within the river boundaries, were also affected in the same way and had the highest level of destruction, death, and devastation.

In the field study of floods in Golestan province, in the cities of Gomishan and Aq Qala, it was found that the occurrence of floods and waterlogging in Aq Qala is not unprecedented; because the city is located in a low-lying area. However, such a disaster has never been seen before. According to their statements, the most devastating flood that has occurred in the region and remains in the memory of the local people dates back to 1992. According to their testimony, the volume of water in this flood was much greater, but the speed of the water flow was also higher compared to the recent flood.

People mainly attributed the causes of the incident to two categories: “natural causes and human causes”.

Natural causes.

According to them, the destruction of vegetation cover in the area where water flows into the city, on one hand, and the lack of plant growth and the presence of debris on the banks where water should exit, on the other hand, has caused the water to quickly flow into Aq Qala and slowly exit it during heavy rains.

Human reasons/causes.

1) Overflowing of water from the “Voshmger Dam” which has several problems:

a) The water level of the dam is always high. The government’s justification is that this water is used during the day and summer. However, according to the residents of the area, this water is stored for sale to the owners of agricultural lands (200,000 tomans per hectare for 5 hours).

B) Since the dam water has not been discharged for several years and basic principles of dam maintenance have not been observed, the dam gate has been blocked by mud and debris, and on the day of the incident, it was not possible to open it.

With the overflow of water from the dam, the Yaray river, unable to carry a large volume of water, has flooded and has pushed the water back into the surrounding cities and villages.

2) Railroad line problem.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who in the second round of the presidential election came to this region with the slogan “We will hear the sound of the train whistle in the garden”, could not have imagined that his ugly laughter would one day bring such a flood of tears from the eyes of the residents. The railway is being inaugurated and only one train passes through it per week. The rails pass through a 2.5 meter high dirt hill, which acted as a dirt dam during the recent flood. On one side, there is the Agh Ghala dam, on the opposite side, the railway line. Water enters from one side and hits the high wall of two and a half meters, flooding the city. The delay of the military and government forces in destroying the railway line has caused the residents of Agh Ghala to threaten to destroy it themselves. Finally, the rulers woke up from their peaceful sleep and at 8:30 pm, they destroyed the train route and the

But what happened in Lorestan province, and the cities of Poldokhtar and Mamulan, was something beyond the flood in Golestan. What happened in the Golestan flood was the flooding of cities due to the overflow of dam water and the creation of a flood. This flood did not have the power of destruction, but it brought a two and a half meter high water level for the city residents. However, the Lorestan flood, with the flow of rainwater from the rivers, headed towards Mamulan and Poldokhtar, which due to its high volume and height, had a strong destructive power. According to the locals, such heavy rain and flooding had not occurred in the past hundred years. The annual rainfall in Lorestan province is about 200 millimeters, but this year, in just two days, there was about 166 millimeters of rainfall. As a result, a powerful and massive flood occurred, reaching a height of 8 to 15 meters

The management of crisis can be divided into three levels: before, during, and after the occurrence of a flood.

Branko Markitich, talks about Cuba’s experience in preparing for natural disasters: “During the grip of Hurricane Harvey, people began to share images of thousands of fire ants clinging together to form a raft on the surface of the water to save the queen, larvae, and their young. This famous image of insect solidarity in the face of a disaster was in stark contrast to the human reaction to Hurricane Harvey, although it served as a reminder of our inability and weakness in dealing with natural disasters.”

Despite all of this, if I were to tell you that there is a country that has survived 17 previous hurricanes with only 35 casualties; or that this country has demonstrated the same level of solidarity that we envy in ants just a few lines above; and if you were to know that this country’s gross domestic product is not particularly remarkable compared to the United States, what would your reaction be? Such a country exists: Cuba. When Hurricane Matthew claimed the lives of 44 people in the United States in 2016, no one in Cuba was killed despite the extensive destruction caused by the storm. Similarly, when over 1800 people lost their lives in the United States due to Hurricane Katrina, no one in Cuba died.

What does Cuba do? There is no big secret. After several deadly storms in the 20th century, the Cuban government implemented a comprehensive plan to increase preparedness for natural disasters, evacuate homes and cities, provide relief, and improve and rebuild after disasters. This program includes all Cuban citizens and is implemented in all national and local organizations.

Crisis management before the occurrence of flood.

Despite the presence of responsible and crisis-related institutions such as meteorological organizations, crisis management, environment, Red Crescent, and Ministry of Energy, no practical measures were taken to control and manage the floods in the affected areas. They not only lacked preparedness to deal with this phenomenon, but also did not even consider it beforehand. If, as the government claims, the floods in Golestan were unexpected, why were no measures taken for the floods in Lorestan and Ahvaz, which were much more dangerous and destructive and occurred only 10 days after the Golestan floods, giving enough time to mitigate the risks? Why were no measures taken, such as opening dams and diverting rivers and streams – which were among the main causes of recent devastating floods?

The surface of the rivers along the flood path had been filled with approximately two meters of sand and rocks over time. Despite an annual budget of 50 billion tomans for dredging the riverbeds, no action had been taken. If this same two-meter level of dredging had been done, the intensity of the destruction caused by the flood would have been reduced and instead of overflowing and flowing towards the city, the flood would have followed its main path towards dams and the sea.

On the other hand, in the Golestan flood, the main reason for the flood entering the cities was the overflow of the Shemgir dam, which happened due to the lack of attention to the condition of the dams and the failure to open the outlet gates of the dam because of the accumulation of mud.

In addition to this, the crisis management institutions responsible for constantly being prepared to deal with such crises, did not have the necessary readiness or access to resources such as helicopters, machinery, and equipment. Despite claims of proper crisis management and demonstrating the situation as natural, the repeated requests from the government for help from the people in aiding the flood victims is evidence of the government and related institutions’ incapability and lack of preparedness to deal with the crisis. Despite the imminent threat of floods in other parts of Ahvaz, and the drowning of cities and villages, destruction of homes, and loss of lives, instead of taking fundamental actions, they only issue warnings for evacuation of homes.

Crisis Management

In this stage, due to the vastness of the flood-affected areas and the high volume of damages, there is obviously a need for a high level of relief efforts, both in terms of available rescue forces and providing basic necessities such as shelter, heating supplies, food, clothing, and hygiene items. Since the government had not previously considered this issue and was unable to provide this level of facilities, in the first days of the flood, people were left in the worst possible conditions; homeless, hungry, without clothes or shelter.

As a result, the government turned to the people for help in aiding the flood victims; however, it was conditional upon delivering cash and non-cash assistance to the Red Crescent, Welfare Organization, and Relief Committee. Due to the breakdown of trust between the people and the government, the people were not willing to send their aid through these organizations and preferred to have their assistance delivered directly to the affected areas by volunteer relief teams. However, in the first few days, with the order of the country’s prosecutor general, the accounts of the volunteer forces were frozen and in some cases, the collected aid was confiscated in favor of the Red Crescent.

The same incident that happened during the earthquakes in Varzaghan and Kermanshah in the cities of Tehran, Tabriz, Karaj, Rasht, and Kermanshah, and the judicial and security confrontations that took place with the people’s forces. The reason for these confrontations was also the prevention of government institutions from becoming discredited due to the people’s lack of trust in them. As a result, the most immediate solution to this problem was to remove the active forces of the people in the field of relief, which, with their removal, only government and governmental institutions remain, and the crisis resolution, which is their legal duty, is recorded. Despite all these confrontations and pressures, it was these people’s forces who rushed to help the flood-affected people before the government, in any way possible.

With these characteristics, what was visible in the Golestan flood in the first days was the absence of any sign of rescue forces from the Red Crescent, Welfare, and Army in the area. According to available documents such as photos, videos, and statements from flood-affected people, the presence of government officials was nothing but self-promotion and leaving the field of rescue empty. If there was any help, it was from the people themselves. Since access to submerged houses was only possible through boats, people in the province would transport their belongings from the cities of Gonbad and Bandar Turkmen to Aq Qala. Benefactors said that traffic police would set up checkpoints and fine rescue boats for 200,000 tomans, and in short, in the mourning of the oppressed, they would make bread from the crumbs of fat. The speed of relief efforts was low for four reasons: lack of boats, the danger of boats capsizing, the vastness of the area, and the

In Lorestan, the situation has taken a different turn. With the arrival of popular forces to the flood-affected areas, and considering the incapacity of the Red Crescent and Crisis Management Organization, the Revolutionary Guard has organized a large number of Basij forces and seminary students, while also being listed as a terrorist organization by the United States. They have been deployed in the form of people’s jihad forces, under the cover of the Red Crescent, with all the necessary facilities and support, to the cities of Mamulan and Pol Dokhtar. This action by the Revolutionary Guard, along with providing aid, was also a display of power, given their sufficient equipment.

What was needed at this stage to overcome the crisis and bring order to the ruins left behind by the flood, was human power to clear the collapsed houses and machinery to remove the mud and debris from the streets and alleys. Of course, the necessary resources for this task were not available to the people or the Red Crescent. As a result, after about a month, the people of Golestan, Lorestan and Ahvaz are still living in displacement. In addition, there are villages in the affected areas that are inaccessible due to the destruction of roads and being surrounded by the flood. According to reports and documents, for several days, no help had reached the people and in places where helicopters from the Red Crescent or the army had gone, due to the danger of getting stuck in the mud and debris, they had to drop relief items from above to the people.

Management after crisis.

The same helplessness that existed before the flood, still exists during and after the flood. Some hours before the flood, they warned the people to evacuate their homes and considered it a precautionary measure to save the lives of the people. But they did not mention where the thousands of people whose homes are now destroyed and in ruins and who are mourning, should go and how they should go? When they themselves have not taken any major budgetary measures to prevent such incidents over the years, how can they expect people to evacuate their homes within a few hours? Let’s say they were thinking about people’s lives, why weren’t they thinking about people’s property and livelihoods? The damage caused to the flood-affected areas in a few days, according to their own statements, has been more than the damage caused by 8 years of war between Iran and Iraq. Couldn’t they, with proper management and at a negligible cost, prevent the destruction of people’s lives? People who, apart from

Given the severe damages and losses of homes, household items, agricultural lands, livestock, jobs, and sources of income, the facilities provided to compensate for all these damages are very insignificant and unreasonable. Therefore, at this stage, the actions that the government must take for flood victims and to get out of the critical situation should be as follows; which, unfortunately, have not been taken into consideration so far, especially in Ahvaz, where thousands of people are currently at risk of flooding:

1- Providing accurate statistics of flood victims and searching for missing and buried individuals, as well as compensating for human casualties.

2- Building housing and relocating residents living in the vicinity of rivers and destroyed areas to safe locations.

3- Providing necessary and sufficient facilities for the supply and equipping of essential goods for life.

4- Creating a suitable platform for employment and providing social security and monthly benefits for individuals who have lost their job and source of income.

5- Providing public health services considering the prevalence of diseases caused by floods and pollution in the region.

6- Creating facilities to prevent temporary or permanent migration of flood victims.

7- Addressing women and children’s issues and providing social, medical, and psychiatric services to overcome the crisis situation.

Note:

Marketich, Branko, Socialism and Capitalism Against the Storm; The Experience of Cuba and America; Translated by Ali Atashi, Radio Zamaneh.