Ehya’s Evolving Role in Response to the Bam Disaster

In the early hours of Friday, December 26, 2003, an earthquake as strong as 6.8 on Richter scale, hit the province of Kerman in south-eastern Iran. The city of Bam and its surrounding villages bore the brunt of the devastating earthquake which reduced buildings to the rubble and killed many people in their sleep. Roughly 70% of the city was destroyed in minutes, leaving tens of thousands homeless without shelter, food or access to basic necessities.
Immediate work on preparedness of these basic devastated necessities of life, inter alia, provision of shelter, access to hand-washing facilities and safe drinking water, warm clothes and blankets, were the very first actions taken by SPASDI. Following the aforementioned activities, the necessary structure for collecting cash and in-kind donations was set up and thenceforth further developed in order to deliver the donations to the disastrous areas.

In order to achieve this vital aim more than 30 of SPASDI's full-time staff and volunteers were cooperating and executing the plan. By January 3, 2004, the emergency and immediate-term activities had been achieved and the focus shifted to continuing the ongoing activities while working towards medium-term and long-term objectives. Further services to the victims of the earthquake were focused on orphans, and young girls, two particularly vulnerable groups due to the regions propensity for drug smuggling.
Those children who had lost one or both parents were identified regardless of their sex. SPASDI aimed to provide protection to separated children and their foster families, to prevent further family separation and to ensure long term family reintegration. Furthermore, the female heads of the families were closely looked after by, inter alia, organizing vocational trainings, income generating programs and setting up other classes such as sewing and computer studies in order to empower them. Another major activity taken up by SPASDI was taking care of the handicapped individuals.
The following is a summary of all the above-mentioned actions, plans and measures carried out in Bam in the last 20 months. It is noteworthy that SPASDI is still assisting the people of Bam to increase their capabilities and restore their lives.

SPASDI’s Condensed Performance Report Covering the Last Thirty Two Months in the  Earthquake-Hit City of Bam:

On Friday, December 26th, 2003, Iran faced a huge human catastrophe in the city of Bam.  Due to its vast extent and intensity, this earthquake became a national disaster.  Sadness cast a shadow over Bam but it attracted the attention of the whole world and the rest of Iran,  and as a result, life has begun to regenerate under the shelter of the palm trees.

After the earthquake, SPASDI collaborated with and gained support from a few other Iranian NGOs whose main activity focused on vocational rehabilitation of the people with physical disabilities. Once again, like other times when earthquakes had ruined a part of our country,  SPASDI traveled to Bam in order to collect people's offerings and other donations and deliver them to the victims. However, the extent and the intensity of the catastrophe was too much  for the cash and the material to suffice because over 70% of the city had either died under the rubble or had been injured or disabled. We were faced with a large number of people with intense spinal disorder or amputation of arms and legs, around 5000 orphans and a great number of widows who had now become the heads of the households and the breadwinners.

SPASDI,  believing in thinking big and acting small, started its actions from that very moment. In consideration of its core values and its moral, humanitarian and its organizational mission, SPASDI began to help and assist the victims of the earthquake from the second day of the disaster. One charitable individual donated a house built on 2500 square meters in which SPASDI established its headquarters. SPASDI has thus been able to offer various services, including social work, rehabilitation of the individuals with physical disabilities, care for orphans and female heads of the households, psychiatric health and vocational  training. Below is a summary report of SPASDI's activities organized from the headquarters near Bam in the last thirty two months:

1. Presentation of cash contributions to the victims of the earthquake in order to provide for vital needs in the first three months after the earthquake. This was done under the expert discretion of social workers, managers and volunteer members of SPASDI, amounting to over 310,000,000 IR. Rials.

2. Collection of offerings and other donations from charitable individuals, provision of medicine and other necessary equipment needed by the victims of the earthquake and immediate dispatch to the region for distribution (19 trucks and vans).

3. Expeditionary forces (in particular, a professional Medical Group and Rehabilitation Team) were present in the region from the second day of the earthquake who, alongside the public and governmental forces, participated in helping their compatriots.  The services of these forces have been over 4420 per person per hour. (This figure does not include the effective presence of 5 managers, nor does it include the services of necessary paid personnel).

4. Provision and delivery of various rehabilitative equipment including wheelchairs,  walkers, crutches, casts, bandages and canes to the individuals with disability and the related rehabilitation organizations established in Bam, amounting to over 330,000,000 IR. Rials.

5. Provision and delivery of a variety of medicines to medical and treatment centers established in Bam, amounting to 244,000,000 IR.Rials.

6. Offering cultural, educational and athletic services to those children and teenagers who, as a result of the earthquake, have been deprived from schooling and any useful hobbies or have undergone psycho-social trauma. (A major part of these services became feasible by the acquisition of a mini-bus specially used for a mobile home,  bought in the first months following the earthquake. Through the use of this bus, SPASDI has been able to covey all its services to the deprived, over populated and out- of- reach regions and finally to all victims’ camping places.
   Showing films, provision of a mobile library, nutrition counseling, provision of sports facilities and games for the children, giving NewYear’s (Norooz) presents, and giving toys and special gifts to the children were some of SPASDI's services, which were mostly conducted primarily by the highly ambitious volunteer forces sent to the region, (over 195 people).

7. Provision of special rehabilitation services including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and education to a large number of men, women and children who had experienced organic and spinal disorder, pelvis fracture and amputation of arms and legs. To date, services to such disabled people has been over 3616 per person per hour.

8. Provision of counseling and social work services particularly to the children,  adolescents, orphans and female heads of the households who, due to the pressure of losing members of their family, have experienced emotional trauma, and/or psychological and social disorders. The number of people benefiting from these services totals more than 2343.

9. Identifying children without guardians has been one of SPASDI's headquarters’ major activities in Bam. This headquarters has enabled the relatives of these children who lost parents in the earthquake to arrange for their fostering and patronage in intermediate families. This is done by carrying out social work services and making regular payments. To date, 129 orphans have been identified, out of whom 36 have been supported by SPASDI's headquarters and are paid 800,000-2,000,000 IR.Rials per month.  With continued support from charitable individuals,  this number could go up.  It is noteworthy that a number of compatriots have accepted the responsibility of paying the orphans monthly.

10. Establishment,   equipping and setting out a Technical and Professional Learning  Centre in conformity with the standards of the Technical and Professional  Organizations,  offering classes including computer studies  and  sewing  particularly  for those individuals with disabilities,  orphans and female head of the households has been one of SPASDI’s long-term goals.  Trainees who obtain their Technical Expertise Certificate,   will be able to experience a  healthy psycho-social life by being self-employed in the near future.

11. Along the lines of job-creation,  SPASDI continues to support those trainees who have completed dress-making and computer-studies courses.   These supports are in forms of receiving sewing machines and computers for self-employment or obtaining loans in order to establish cooperative companies.   It is worth mentioning that some benevolent people have supported the aforementioned graduates towards self-employment by placing work orders to them.   Needless to add that all these cooperative companies are ready to accept any dress-making or computer services orders.

12. In order to provide the necessary facilities for the continuation of SPASDI’s  headquarters' services (particularly easier access to the headquarters' services for the  vocational trainees and those seeking support from SPASDI),  upon a 3000 square meter piece of land in the centre of Bam presented to SPASDI by a benevolent person, after the approval of the Board of  Directors and SPASDI's Board of Trustees, with the help of some other benevolent individuals a 15,000 square meter piece of land was bought (adjacent to the aforesaid piece of land).    After the preliminary preparation, the aforementioned land has now been enclosed with walls and equipped with electricity and telephone wiring and water pipes have been  laid as well (with a cost of over 120,000,000 IR.Rials).  In this way SPASDI’s services have been continually offered in the new venue in the third year after the earthquake.

13. Organizing intervention sessions in drug addiction crisis and efforts for prevention and  treatment of the addicts in particular children and adolescents following the earthquake was another endeavor which was taken into consideration by the Planning Management at SPASDI's headquarters.  Rehabilitation programs for the  drug addicts were organized in the first three months after the earthquake at  SPASDI's  headquarter which carried on operating for two years.   These  programs have now been supported and taken over by The United Nations and the empowering workforce of Bam’s Welfare Organization in a different venue. 

14. In order to promote group activities and enhance social growth of the target groups, every year SPASDI arranges one-day tours to the surrounding areas of Bam with pleasant climate.   All trainees and other individuals under cover are invited to spend a beautiful,  unforgettable day.   In the first two years Berki village and in the third year Delford in the countryside by the city of Giroft were visited.

15. Some measures have been taken with the collaboration of Deputy Head of  Treatment and Rehabilitation Office of the Red Crescent Society and Rehabilitation Faculty of The University of Medical Sciences of Iran.  This was aimed at obtaining discounts from the technical orthopedics workshops for purchasing orthopedics and prosthesis for those individuals under SPASDI’s cover who suffered loss of limbs as a result of the earthquake.

16. Assistance to the socially disadvantaged including runaway girls and street children is  one of SPASDI's headquarters’ many services. This service assists in identifying such  individuals and offering social services by referring them to other centers and non-governmental organizations.

17. 79,000,000 IR.Rials in cash has so far been budgeted for surgeries and the provision of orthosis and prosthesis for  for all the individuals covered by SPASDI’s  headquarters  in  Bam.  

The statistics of the trainees in computer-studies and sewing classes from the start up to the end of September 2006  are shown in the following two tables:

Computer-Studies

Period	Introductory Operating	Word	Excel	Power Point	Accountancy
1	25	---	---	---	---
2	11	17	---	---	---
3	11	9	---	---	---
4	15	13	---	---	---
5	24	20	13	---	---
6	19	21	11	9	13
7	33	18	6	---	---
8	14	19	8	7	---
9	20	16	8	9	---
10	6	---	9	---	15
11(Test to be taken)	19	30	---	---	---
Total	197	163	55	25	28
Sat the exam	97	70	52	8	---
Passed the exam	59	52	11	8	---

18. Securing license from the Interior Ministry and Disciplinary Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the Bam branch.

19. Obtaining license (number352) for rehabilitative-related activities from the Welfare Organization of Kerman province.

20. Securing establishment license (number 20/16522) from  the Technical and Professional Organization of Kerman province for free-of-charge technical, professional and  vocational training for target groups.

Khosrow  Mansourian,

Managing Director and Head of Board of Directors.