Environment

VOA – A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck Fars province in southern Iran on Monday, Iranian state TV reported. State TV did not report any information on possible damage or casualties from the quake, which hit near the town of Khane Zenian. Assessment teams have been dispatched to the quake site, which is not a very populous area, the head of …

rferl.org – A powerful earthquake has hit the eastern Turkish province of Elazig, causing buildings to collapse and leaving at least 21 people dead and hundreds injured, officials say. The magnitude-6.8 quake struck near the town of Sivrice in Elazig Province — some 750 kilometers from the Turkish capital, Ankara — shortly before 9 p.m., the government’s disaster and emergency …

radiofarda – The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Department of Environment (DoE) chief, Issa Kalantari has admitted that mazut, an environmentally harmful fuel is used for power stations in the country. Mazut is a heavy, low quality fuel oil with an obnoxious smell that highly pollutes the air. The cheap product is usually used in massive industrial plants and for ships. …

Iran-HRM – Unprecedented floods have claimed at least four lives and caused severe damages to cities and villages since early January in the impoverished province of Sistan and Baluchestan in south east Iran. The floods have affected 500 villages and 14 towns in the province alone and 20,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed. Director General of Sistan and Baluchestan …

PayvandNews – All the facilities and capacities of the country have been mobilized to assist people in the flood-stricken province of Sistan-Baluchestan, IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday. Unprecedented heavy rainfall which began on January 10 has led to flash flooding in the southeastern province, as 145 stations have recorded rainfall, 95 of which have reported receiving more than 50 …

Radiofarda – The head of the Islamic Republic Department of Environment (DoE) disclosed on Thursday, January 2, that the number of under-one-year-old babies dying of air pollution in Iran is six times more than the one in the neighboring Turkey. Speaking to a gathering in Iran’s second-largest city, Mashhad, northeast Iran, Isa Kalantari admitted that the hazard of air pollution …

PayvandNews – Over the past six days, polluted air in the country sent 13,931 people to hospitals and medical centers due to heart and respiratory problems, Mojtaba Khaledi, Emergency Medical Services Organization spokesman has said. View of Tehran under heavy smog Due to air pollution and increased particulate matters in provinces of Isfahan, Alborz, Tehran, Markazi, Qazvin, Qom, East Azarbaijan, …

Radiofarda – The spokesman of Iran’s Emergency Services Organization said December 23 that in the past 24 hours 2,426 people visited hospital emergency rooms. These were people with heart and respiratory diseases who are most vulnerable to air pollution. The spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi told the government news website IRNA that emergency cases were the highest in Tehran Province, with 1,209 …

Radiofarda – An Iranian health official in the flood-stricken city of Ahwaz in Khuzestan Province Iran on Sunday warned about an outbreak of cholera and leishmaniasis and called on the authorities to take immediate prevention measures. Mehrdad Sharifi, Head of West Ahwaz Health Center, said the residents are threatened by an outbreak of various diseases such as cholera and leishmaniasis …

Radiofarda – The source of a mysterious stench that has pestered residents of Iran’s capital Tehran this year, is the usage of nonstandard mazut with high-density sulfur in the nearby town of Shahr-e Rey’s industrial complexes, Tehran municipality has disclosed. Last winter and again this fall a terrible foul smell gripped parts of Tehran and officials kept pointing fingers at different possible …