Local Iranians Collect Aid for Quake Victims

Sadegh Namazikhah said he felt a searing pain and unspeakable grief when he heard that an earthquake in Iran may have killed tens of thousands of his countrymen.

“One of my friends had 50 members of his family killed and his wife lost 60 family members,” said Namazikhah, founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Iranian Muslim Assn. of North America.

“People are very upset. Everywhere you go, you see lots of tears. I was speaking to [a television reporter] and I couldn’t stop crying.”

Not long after the news came, the Pacific Palisades resident launched a relief effort from the group’s West Los Angeles headquarters, reaching out to thousands of Iranian expatriates in Southern California. Through radio and television, they hope to amass supplies and money to purchase supplies to send to their ravaged homeland.

“Everyone is trying to help,” he said. “It’s like something that has happened to a very large family.”

He and the board of directors had an emergency meeting hours after learning about the temblor. Board members contributed about $20,000, he said. The organization opened its headquarters on Saturday to receive donations. And today, Namazikhah said, at least seven Iranian-language stations -- mostly in Los Angeles -- will broadcast a daylong telethon featuring Iranian celebrities urging people to donate to the relief effort.

The magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck about 5:30 a.m. local time Friday is believed to have killed 20,000 to 40,000 people and injured tens of thousands more. It leveled much of the historic city of Bam, about 600 miles southeast of Tehran.

“Everywhere Iranians are gathering to give help,” Namazikhah said, estimating that 500,000 Iranian expatriates live in the Southland. Census figures place the number closer to 100,000.

Contributions are being accepted at the Iranian Muslim Assn.’s headquarters, 3376 Motor Ave., West Los Angeles 90034. Contributions may also be made via credit card at (310) 202-8181 or online at www.iman.org.

Money will be used to purchase hospital equipment and medical supplies, he said.

“Iranians are people who, regardless of their differences, in times of disaster become united to support each other. That is our culture,” Namazikhah said. “This is a time when, I’m sure, we will not fail.”

Namazikhah’s organization will hold a memorial service at its headquarters from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 4.

“We are very sad,” said Ali Limonadi, producer of an Iranian program on local international station KSCI-TV, which will devote today’s broadcast entirely to news and interviews on the disaster.

Roxanne Ganji, a spokeswoman for the Iranian National Congress, a Los Angeles-based organization advocating secularism and democracy for Iran, said she was vacationing in Utah when she heard the news.

“It was shocking,” she said. “That is one of the most beautiful places in Iran, and very well known. Unfortunately, all of the houses are mud. Everyone I spoke with yesterday was in shock and saddened and very frustrated.”

Ganji said she spent most of Saturday speaking to people in Los Angeles about what could be done. Part of the problem, she said, is that U.S. sanctions make it difficult to send cash to Iran.

So her group, she said, also is accepting donated supplies such as tents, blankets, clothes and medicine. They are still considering how best to use cash contributions, she said.

“Unfortunately,” Ganji said, “in the past when we wanted to help, it went through the Iranian government and we had very bad experiences.”

The Iranian government asked the U.S. for assistance, and on Saturday, about 70 members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s urban search-and-rescue team stood ready to respond.

“We hope that we can do some good and we believe that we can,” said Inspector Roland Sprewell, the group’s spokesman.

The team was minutes from boarding an airplane at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County when the Iranian government had second thoughts, Sprewell said, and the departure was put on hold. The Iranians reconsidered, he said, and by late Saturday it appeared that the trip was back on.

Sprewell said that the team, which could be accompanied by a similar group from Fairfax County, Va., would take extra food, tents, sniffing devices allowing searchers to detect toxic fumes, tiny cameras to navigate crevices in which victims may be trapped, various types of shoring equipment and devices designed to drill through concrete.

In addition to firefighters, Sprewell said, the team includes two structural engineers and two civilian physicians. The trip to Iran, he said, will mark the first foreign deployment for the group.