remembering Bam Iran.
From Wikipedia:
On December 26, 2003 at 5:26 AM local time(1:56 AM UTC) Bam Citadel — “the biggest adobe structure of the world” — and most of the city of Bam proper were devastated by an earthquake. The United States Geological Survey estimated its magnitude as 6.6 on the Richter scale.[2] The BBC reported that “70% of the modern city of Bam” was destroyed.[3] Death toll numbers as high as 80,000 were rumoured on the street and 70,000 reported in the media. However, the total death toll was given as 56,230 on January 17 and the latest estimate from Tehran has halved previous estimates to 26,271 deaths. An additional 10,000 – 50,000 were reported injured, however this number is very uncertain; the most reported number is 30,000, which may have originated from an early Reuters account. According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, the old Bam Citadel was “levelled to the ground”.
This much most know. What most may not know is why so many died there when it was commonly known that it was a hazardous region and the Shaw of iran had in fact made it illegal for anyone to live there except for archaeologists and scientists studying the fascinating and long history of this city.
Why then did so many thousands perish in Bam? Tens of thousands more than where legally allowed to be there under the Shaw?
After the revolution and Iran, the most secular of all ‘Islamic states’ and the only Muslim state that has any respect for its pre Islamic history it was decided to sell deeds to properties in Bam. As well as buying your new home you could get a ‘fatwa’ that promised you there would be no earthquake for an additional five thousand dollars.
This of course is reminiscent of the ‘indulgences’ of the Catholic church during its most corrupt days of raising money by selling holy relics and certificates of forgiveness. However this cost the lives of something like 40,000 people.
As bad as the Shaw may have been he was at least capable of looking after the basic interests of his people in forbidding them to live in a mud house in an area plagued by frequent earthquakes. The dark greedy and corrupt superstitious whims of the Mullahs and clerics who followed, where all too ready to sacrifice the lives of tens of thousands of their fellow Iranians for five grand a household. I wonder how many of them where there when the city came apart. I bet it was a round number.
“…you could get a ‘fatwa’ that promised you there would be no earthquake for an additional five thousand dollars”
The blame has to be shared by the clueless masses for believing that bullshit. However I would find it interesting to know how many were stupid enough to actually pay for the fatawa. If they were half way smart, they would have only one resident by a fatawa, that’s all you would need. heh.
BTW, it’s ’shah’ not ’shaw’. But I nitpick.
Comment by Canuckguy — December 21, 2008 @ 3:53 pm
BTW it’s ‘buy’ not ‘by’, slip of the finger, figure I strike first before you call me on it to get even.
Comment by Canuckguy — December 21, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
Estimates of the dead are a fair estimate of the number of people who bought the fatwa. I wish i could find the original article about Bam. Very discouraging. Hard drives only last so long and you lose so much. I wonder if they bought fatwa’s about not being bombed by Israel in a preemptive strike.
Comment by Vlad Tepes — December 21, 2008 @ 5:24 pm