TEHRAN – Over the past 24 hours, a total of 609 flood-hit people benefited from the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue services.

A total of 43 relief teams, consisting of 171 rescuers, helped affected people in Tehran, Qom, Golestan, Mazandaran, Yazd, Isfahan, and Kerman provinces where heavy rains triggered flood, ISNA quoted Babak Mahmoudi, an official with the IRCS, as saying. 

Also, relief teams removed water from 37 residential houses, transported one person to a safe place, and distributed 14 food packages.

Rainfall increases by 16%

According to the Metrological Organization, since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20),  the country has experienced an increase of 16 percent in precipitation compared to the same period a year before.

However, Tehran, Semnan, and Qazvin are among the provinces that have received severely low rainfall.

From March 20 till April 22, precipitations amounted to 43 mm which shows an increase of 16 percent compared to 37 mm long-term average rainfall.

Since the beginning of the current water year (September 23, 2023) till April 22, a total of 167 mm of rainfall has been recorded in the country. It represents a 16 percent decrease from the long-term average of 198 mm.

According to statistics, Semnan (44 percent), Tehran (40 percent), Qazvin (39 percent), and Khorasan Razavi ( 37 percent) provinces have received lower amounts of rainfall compared to normal conditions.

The central, southern, and southeastern parts of the country have also experienced notably low rainfall.

Fars, with 30 percent, Hormozgan, 28 percent, and Kerman, 25 percent, have had lower than normal precipitations.

The average temperature has been 1.5 to 2 degrees cooler.

Last week, in West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, and Ardabil provinces, the temperature was  4 and 5 degrees Celsius above normal. However, in Kerman, South Khorasan, Sistan-Baluchestan, and Yazd provinces it has been 4 to 7 degrees Celsius colder than the long-term average.

From March 20 to April 22, the temperatures in Tehran, Qazvin, Semnan, North Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, South Khorasan, as well as West and North-West provinces were within or above normal ranges.

The above-mentioned provinces are going through the fourth consecutive year of serious water scarcity.

IRCS services

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) offered first-aid training services to more than four million people from March 14 to April 5.

Some 63,000 other people also received rescue services.

Among 4,370 operations and services carried out by the IRCS, 2,525 were rescue operations, ISNA quoted Babak Mahmoudi, an IRCS official, as saying.

The IRCS provided emergency shelters for 3,931 individuals, treated 5,257 wounded people, and transferred 1,567 others to health centers.

Moreover, within the framework of a program initiated on March 14, more than four million individuals were trained in first aid by the IRCS trainers, and 400 others received online training.

Also, kids were made aware of natural hazards, such as floods and earthquakes, and other dangers using virtual reality or playing games.

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 on 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.

MT/MG