Past Forgotten in Face of Disaster : Earthquake: Iranian immigrants put aside differences to help former countrymen shattered by a devastating temblor.

Not long after the news broke about the earthquake in northwest Iran last week, Afsar Adl began rounding up blankets, canned goods and other emergency supplies to send to the homeland she left three decades ago.

At her Westwood Boulevard restaurant, Attari’s Garden, Adl is coordinating the collection and shipment of supplies and money contributed by friends, relatives and customers to the earthquake relief effort.

“People are very sad because in the last 10 years all kinds of disasters have hit our country,” said Adl, dressed in black to mourn the thousands who lost their lives. “Many people have died in the war (with Iraq) and now in this earthquake. I think this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Hers is not the only business taking part in the emergency relief effort along the busy section of Westwood Boulevard that sometimes is called “Little Tehran” because of its concentration of Iranian-owned restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses.

A few doors down from Attari’s Garden, Iraj Ghaffari, the owner of B & G Westwood Meat Co., has collected more than a dozen boxes filled with sleeping bags, emergency medical supplies and other goods. Ghaffari, an American-trained former Iranian air force officer who fled Iran shortly after the revolution 11 years ago, also responded immediately to the crisis, putting aside the problems of the past. “I’m doing what I can to help,” he said.

These efforts and others are taking place with assistance from the Iranian Earthquake Relief Council, a coalition of about 30 Iranian-American organizations in Southern California that has been mobilizing the Iranian community to collect supplies and channel donations through the Red Cross to help those whose lives were devastated by the earthquake.

Iranian officials say that at least 50,000 people died in the earthquake, which struck last Thursday and devastated wide areas along the coast of the Caspian Sea and in nearby mountains.

Southern California is the adopted home of more Iranians--estimates range from 300,000 to 500,000--than any other part of the United States. Two of the largest concentrations, particularly of Jewish Iranians, are on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley, and Westwood has become a commercial center for Iranian emigres of all faiths.

The earthquake relief group has set up its headquarters in the offices of the Iranian Assn. of America on Sawtelle Boulevard. Volunteers have been holding daily meetings to map strategy and plan fund-raising events to aid in the relief effort.

“So far the response has been great, not just from the Iranian-American community but from the American community too,” said Goodarz Haydarzadey, a spokesman for the relief organization. “It has been extremely good. The notion that Americans don’t want to help because of the difficult relationship between the two countries is not correct.”

Although the region’s Iranian community has been splintered in the past by religious and political disputes, they now are cooperating in response to the crisis. “The need to get help over there has encouraged many with differences to put them aside and work together,” Haydarzadey said.

The relief group is working with a local Iranian television organization, Sima-Y-Ashena, to put on a telethon to raise funds for the earthquake victims Friday on KSCI Channel 18. Also, a “Day of Remembrance” will be held as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the quake from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday in the Beverly Hills High School auditorium.

Barbara Wilks, speaking for the American Red Cross, the principal coordinator of monetary contributions for earthquake relief, said that as of Sunday more than $156,000 was raised nationally for Iran. Local contributions have passed the $10,000 mark, Red Cross officials said this week.

Other groups have been involved in the emergency effort too.

The Iranian Jewish Federation has collected about 12,000 pounds of food in a downtown Los Angeles warehouse for shipment to Iran. Other individuals and organizations are arranging permission from the Iranian government to send doctors and medical supplies.

Still, the outpouring of sympathy and support for the victims has been dampened by suspicions that the Iranian government will be an obstacle to getting outside help in.

“Everyone is trying to help, but people are not sure whether the government can be trusted to get the supplies to those who need it,” said Solomon Aghai, president of the Iranian Jewish Federation. “We have set up a committee to meet the supplies when it lands in Tehran and make sure that it is distributed those sections of the country that need it.”

Dr. Mehdi Habibi, a neurosurgeon who plans to fly to Iran next month with a team of other doctors, nurses and medical technicians, said that some doctors who would like to join him have expressed concern about how they will be treated in Iran. “We have been assured by the Iranian mission at the United Nations that there will be no problems, that we will have the government’s full cooperation,” he said.

Some say the problems are less a matter of cooperation than of organization.

“The Iranian government is just not equipped to handle this kind of disaster,” said Sohrab Rostamian, president of Ketab Corp., which owns a Westwood bookstore and produces an Iranian yellow pages listing more than 1,600 businesses and professionals in Southern California. “Some people are sending money to relatives and asking them to take it around to the people who need help to make sure they get it.”

But Ari Babaknia, an infertility specialist who heads the Woman’s Health Institute of California in Costa Mesa, said he was willing to work with the government to get help in. He is one of 15 Jewish Iranian doctors who plan to send medical supplies to Iran. “We want to do whatever we can to help,” he said.

Those wishing to donate money may contact the American Red Cross’ Iranian relief fund at 2700 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, 90057. The phone numbers are (800) 842-2200 or (800) 223-6759.