Rouhani Puts State Bodies on Alert after Tremor in Tehran

Immediately after an earthquake that struck Tehran and a number of nearby cities in the wee hours of Friday, President Rouhani held separate telephone conversations with the Minister of Interior, the Governor of Tehran Province, and the President of Iran’s Red Crescent Society to get briefed on the situation after the incident, and issued the necessary orders to gear up for possible rescue and relief operations.

In a conversation with Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the president stressed the need for full preparedness, employment of the whole organizations in Tehran Province and the assisting provinces, and declaration of special circumstances in the affected areas.

The Interior Minister, for his part, gave a report on the evaluations that have been carried out in a meeting of the Crisis Headquarters, held right after the presidential order following the tremor.

In another conversation with Governor of Tehran Mohsen Bandpay, President Rouhani hailed all sectors for the high level of preparedness and their efforts, stressing, “Apart from maintaining preparedness for rescue and relief for people in special conditions and sounding the necessary warnings, efforts must be made to keep the citizens calm and provide accurate information from the authentic and specialized sources.”

President Rouhani also held a telephone conversation with President of Iran’s Red Crescent Society Karim Hemmati and received a report on the deployment of evaluation teams to the quake-hit regions and the results of assessment of the situation, noting, “All rescue organizations, the Red Crescent in particular, must be fully prepared in the current conditions so that they could provide the best rescue and relief service at the shortest time possible in case of a disaster.”