Little 2-year-old Sarina died on January 18, 2018 after catching the flu in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah.
More than 70 days after the earthquake, her father says authorities refused to provide his family a trailer and little Sarina died of the freezing winter cold.
Speaking with the state-run ISNA news agency on January 24, Sarina’s father said: “High fever and repeated seizures worsened the condition of Sarina and there was not even a specialist at the city’s clinic. Subsequently her health deteriorated and she lost consciousness on January 17. We took her to a hospital where they could not do anything for my daughter due to shortage of specialist. The next day I took her to Kermanshah hospital but she died two hours later in my hands.”
Shahab Naderi, an outspoken MP who has criticized the authorities’ inadequate reaction to the November earthquake has said “four deaths from frostbite have been reported in the quake-stricken areas.”
He also gave news of at least 20 suicides after the recent earthquake, saying that the statistics are increasing day by day.
“People in rural areas are in very difficult conditions, and promises made by officials have not been fulfilled,” Naderi said in an interview with the state-run Khane Mellat news agency.
A recent controversial interview by an state TV reporter shows how more and more Kermanshah earthquake survivors are committing suicide due to dire living conditions. In the interview he asks people to help, forgetting to mention why the government has failed to provide meaningful aid?
A video recently posted on social media showed a man who reached the point of setting his entire family on fire due to their atrocious living conditions after the earthquake which left 30,000 homeless.
