TEHRAN –The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescued 3,166 individuals grappling with natural hazards over the past three days.

A total of 97 relief teams, consisting of 386 rescuers, helped people in severe weather situations including blizzards, snowstorms, and flooding, IRIB quoted Babak Mahmoudi, an official with the IRCS, as saying.

Relief teams provided 110 emergency shelter accommodation. Twelve people were transported to safe places and one individual was taken to a medical center. Water was removed out of 193 houses and 238 vehicles trapped in heavy snow were pulled out.

The IRCS is still providing aid to affected people in Ilam, Fars, Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad, and Lorestan provinces.

IRCS services

A training workshop focusing on lowering harms caused by drug addiction was held with the cooperation of the IRCS and Villa Maraini Foundation of Italy in Tehran in December 2023.

Pirhossein Kolivand, the head of the IRCS, and Massimo Barra, the head of the Villa Maraini Foundation, met on the sidelines of the event.

Kolivand stated that drug users encounter severe health issues, suffering from an identity crisis which leads to their exclusion by both their families and society, the IRCS website reported.

However, initiative projects, such as Harm Reduction pertaining to Drug Addiction, serve the purpose of educating and offering healthcare to these individuals, enabling them to reintegrate into society, reunite with their families, and restore self-esteem.

Barra, for his part, emphasized the significance of the problems resulting from drug addiction. Since a large number of individuals are globally affected by addiction, it is crucial to provide them with additional support through greater cooperation, he added.

In December 2023, volunteer physicians were sent to provide free health and pharmaceutical services to people in deprived areas, an official with the IRCS said.

The program was implemented on the occasion of World Volunteer Day, commonly known as IVD, which is celebrated on December 5 every year.

It's a day where volunteers are acknowledged and the spirit of volunteerism is promoted at the local, national, and international levels.

“Volunteer physicians would be sent to deprived areas from Ilam, Kermanshah, Yazd, Bushehr, Markazi, West Azarbaijan, and Kerman provinces to serve the people in these areas,” Vahid Salimi said.

They would provide free health and pharmaceutical services, including visiting patients, dental and midwifery services, and traditional medicine and acupuncture consultation.

They would also check people’s health, blood pressure, height, and weight.

Moreover, oral and dental health care would be taught to the students of the villages.

The main objective of dispatching volunteers was to improve the health of the villagers due to the unavailability of specialist doctors in these areas and reduce medical expenses.

The IRCS in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) organized eight educational workshops for students and their family members residing in the city of Khoy which was struck by a strong earthquake in January 2023.
On January 28, an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit Khoy in the northwestern West Azarbaijan province. The disaster affected at least 261,000 people and displaced 130,000 from their homes.

MT/MG