RECONSTRUCTION

Re: Payam (well said capt ayhab)

Well said capt. I am not a Muslim, but I am starting to get allergic to these neo-fascist extremists (most of them pro Israeli). They are already dreaming of becoming the next generation Khalkhalis, and Ghaffaries ...

Kaveh Jan

Corruption, particularly in Iran is a deeply rooted problem. It has always been there and always be there, unless we as a nation change fundamentally.

I recall wee back when I was a teenager back in Iran there was a huge earth quake in Boien Zahra[if I am not mistaking] which killed 1000's of people perished. The quake even rocked Tehran bit with no casualties.

It was during Pahlavi, and international aid purred into country, however there was so much corruption that took several years to re built, and it was not built according to any standards. Years later in 2002 it was struck again which killed many people.

I am not trying to compare any of the regimes, point I am trying to make is that corruption has always been rampant in our government and always will be, Unless fundamental cultural maturity and rule of law prevails and roots out the corrupted elements from society.

You see my friend, we do not call it corruption or bribery, we call it ZERANGI

-YT

Atashkadeh or Masjed?

Iran should build more Schools and teach Mathematics, Science, Literature, Music, Philosophy, etc. without distortions.  Hmmm, maybe Philosophy should wait until university.

Payam

[What were you at when you wrote that piece? I think that you should kick the habit ( of smoking pot). It makes you delusional.]

say what?  

seems like you are under something rather than me. [WHAT was I at?]. 

[ but I think having a discussion as grown up people is hard for the majority of people hanging around Iranian.com]

Say what again???????

Dude, translate please because like rest on your hateful comment I could not make head or tails of your comment.

-YT

capt_ayhab

What were you at when you wrote that piece? I think that you should kick the habit ( of smoking pot). It makes you delusional.

It was never my suggestion to masacare anyone, but I think having a discussion as grown up people is hard for the majority of people hanging around Iranian.com. At least those who bother to leave a note.

Anyway, peace out. 

To: The person known as ToDaliKav

Yes, this rebuilding took place in spite of the government.

The work that has been done in Bam speaks for itself, and in volumes. Can you imagine how much faster it could have been completed if the government wasn't embezzling any of the funds? Can you imagine how much costs could have been reduced if it weren't for the government?

Based upon the photos, it appears that both the materials and workmanship are of high quality. I don't take issue with that at all. I take issue with the fact that the government, one you seem so hell bent on applauding, took advantage of an earthquake ravaged city and its citizens and put their own interests ahead of the interests of Bam and its citizens.

So, no, "Clowny" didn't get the job done. The people who did the actual work got the job done. They got the job done despite the embezzlement, bribes, corruption, and all the best efforts of your precious mollahs to profit from the misfortunes of others.

Capt. Jan ...

My hat off for you.

 Cameron

Payam

Lets do this, WHEN you become the SHAHANSHAH of Iran, demolish all the Mosques, Churches, Synagogues, every single place of worship and build yourself 1000's of Atashkadeh.Actually build one in every street corner while you are at it.

Once you do that massacre all Muslim, Christians, Jews, Baha'is or FORCE them convert to what ever YOU like them to worship. Make new laws forbidding everyone from worshiping what ever they want and FORCE everyone to your belief.

The new name for country? you can call it ZRI[Zoroastrian Republic of Iran].,,,,, shot man you JUST became IR only in different clothing.

Hell of deal ;-)

-YT

Irandokht

You got all informations wrong about zoroasterianism. I think you are talking about Islam not zartoshti religion because in zoroastrianism women and men have equal rights. Maybe you read wrong books or you are you mixing up Islam with zoroastrianism.
PS: I'm not religious and I don't believe in god either, my religion is good words, good thoughts and good deeds.

Public Square

An example of a moderate humble public square instead of this "distorted" blasphemous "maydone" made from the handsome gas and oil money without a sweet--

Add this one to the list in "maydone" please for more tourist income...

//www.cruisereviews.com/images/ports/caribbea...

Complaining about corruption

Complaining about corruption in government is like complaining about the rain. It's always been and always will be. Humans are not perfect everywhere.

People who try to make themselves seem virtuous by complaining about corruption...grow up. Enjoy your ivory tower, we can't hear you down here in reality.

Too much mustache wax bad

Too much mustache wax bad for brain. Rebuilding is done in spite of the government and not because of it? I don't understand - then who built all those buildings? Football fan clubs?

It was the government - clearly they led and organized it. Only a government, only somebody backed by the force of law could have created such a widespread reconstruction of Bam.

But you didn't even read the article did you? The author states that over $800 million was promised by foreign countries but only $50 million was ever delivered. It takes more than $50 million to rebuild a city of 100,000 people, that is for sure. The author says it took about 30 times that amount.

"According to reports published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, nearly $1.5 billion has been spent in combined public and private funds, with the Iranian government shouldering about 85% of the total. Many Iranians warned me that the money for Bam has been embezzled – that seems to be the ongoing assumption here – but touring Bam leaves no doubt that a great deal of money has been expended and value was realized."

Everyone heard about the corruption in Bam, even the author and he ADDRESSED it SPECIFICALLY. Look at the pictures, his right - value was realized, value is there! That stuff is nicer than a ton of towns in America!

But if you can't look at a clear success like Bam, if you can't look at one act and judge that act free of YOUR OWN ideologies...your opinion is not worth that much. Perhaps it is because you are a fundamentalist, an ideologue.

People, we will never progress until we realize that you don't have to look at EVERY ACT thru an ideological lens people, not - "you left Iran, you support the IRI foolishly" or "I don't support the IRI so they can never do right, even when they say 2+2=4" or "the shah was a disaster, whatever the IRI is good but the shah would have screwed it up more."

The IRI sure looks good IN THE CASE of Bam. That's all I have to say. What else needs be said? I am not lobbying for them or against them. I'm talking bout Bam. And thank God and I hope HE helps Bam even more, and the government must continue to help as well, even if the government is one guy in a clown suit on a unicycle, I don't care. If clowny gets the job done....

Hardy

They're naive if they think they're fooling anyone besides themselves. Either that or brain-damaged.

when you're short on time

when you're short on time and money, art always takes the back seat...and considering all the corruption and what Bam was before the earthquake, they're not doing that bad of a job!

To Kaveh

They are not naive, not by a long shot, some are opportunists and some already on the payroll but all are looking after their own personal interests ... lol

These pictures are nice

I'm very glad to see that Bam is being rebuilt. I hope that no one is ever forced to experience another catastrophe as they did.

But it also seems that it takes very little for some of you to praise the IR government. This rebuilding has taken place not because of the IR, it has taken place in spite of it.

I can only imagine how much more efficient the entire rebuilding process could have been had it not been for the corruption and thievery that has contaminated every level of the IR government.

And the sums of money that has changed hands for nefarious purposes since immediately following the earthquake? I'm sure if anyone were tracking it or keeping the books, the numbers would be astonishing, to say the least.

But, go ahead, applaud the IR. Show everyone your gullibility and naievete. Remain in denial. It's both comical and shameful.

IranDokhte aziz,

It actually is our business when the mosques are built by funds that belong to all IRANIANs, not a smal bunch of them who currently decides and builds whatever it feels like building.

Let Iran be a true repulic and watch all religions flurish in freedom. I am sure the majority of Iranians will have a relapse to Zardasht if true freedom prevails. Because then Iranians will have the chance to educate themselves properly about their ancient filosophies without the involvment of arab representatives in Iran and their nonsense about Zardashtis being fire worshippers and what nut. Then one can defend mosques, which are directed towards mecca ( actually towards a asteroid that sits in a cube in mecca), being built in Iran.

since you addressed me directly

Anonymous-Aria

Most people are born into a religion. Do you think every christian or jew chooses his/her religion? it's been centuries that we Iranians were born into islam, just as we were born into zoroastrianism for milleniums before that. It's been over 1000 years that Muslim arabs invaded Iran, since then the generations of Iranians have been born peacefully mostly into a branch of that religion that they created themselves. No I am not saying shiite islam is better than what was first introduced to Iranians, but every religion has its negative teachings. In zoroastrianism women were isolated every month and after childbirth and they required extra purification to be able to end the isolation! they couldn't even sit with the rest of the family and have meals until the purification isolation was over! Slavery was also very accepted in zoroastianism and women were worth less then men... Lets not glorify any religion at the expense of another. 

I don't like religions, any of them, I find them to be used for dividing people rather than uniting them and I believe that god is the most dangerous creation of humans. What I do like is the positive teachings of each that usually came at the time it was needed for improving the society and bringing order to chaos (especially in Islam's case), I don't believe in their restrictions, silly and sometimes cruel rules, divisive and hateful nature that they either started with, or turned into.

I also believe that if the people want to have a mosque to go to, it's not my place to decide that they shouldn't be building them! 

IRANdokht

To anonymous Irani:IR isn't bad as long as U don't live under IT

"I lived 3 momnths in Iran ... and frankly beside some stupid religous laws, the IR isn't that bad either"

Since you think the IR is not that bad, then one wonders why you left and didn't stay in Iran to help the IRI get better?

Iranians should be building Fire Tempels ( Atashkadeh).

Not mosques. Unless we want to ignore the fact the eslam does not offer Iranians the spirituality and fullfillment that they are looking for in life and beyond. The only true teaching thatin the past has proven to offer that to US (Iranians) is the teaching of Zoroaster (Zardasht/Zartosht).

Irandokht

Did we choose Islam as our religion freely or we were coerced into Islam? How can we respect a religion which is destroying our country and culture? We can not have a free society as long as Islam is our religion. Islam was brought to Iran by Arabs and Turks and they committed genocide to force Iranians to their religion.

Honar dasteh ..

What ever happened to the Iranian sense of art and architecture? It was almost painful to view these pictures.

پیام

We have to learn to respect people's wishes if we want a free and democratic society. Iranian people are muslim by a high percentage and mosques are places of worship. Why are you looking at this report, ignoring all the positive changes and constructions while expressing distress over the mosques? In a free society people are supposed to be free to worship. Do you normally feel as outraged if you see a church or synagogue being rebuilt too? or are you being disrespectful just to your muslim hamvatans?

IRANdokht

Dear gol-dust

No I am not in safety nor am I an engineer, I am only a simple teacher by trade. However my entire family, my father[blessed] my uncles,my brothers brother-in-laws, nephews,  all are civil engineers who mostly live in Iran. I have been exposed to these all my life.

As I mentioned, my brother, a professor in Sharif University is head of Iranian Structural Engineering Standards Committee and that is how I know about the building codes and standards in Iran.

-YT

50 new mosques are 50 to many.

Use the money to build something else.

Reconstruction and 2 kilos of potato

is all meant for the government to buy "these people's" vote, the "Muslim soosmarkhors" wouldn't do anything otherwise ;-) Thank you Mr. Mazaheri for the nice realistic update.

For those who are used to only look at pictures in a picture book, and can't read even a page before opening their mouth, here's reading made short and easy:

For those obssessed with mosques, who also ignore the fact that people in Iran actually DO USE the mosques... but still the mosque shown is one of the few things that remained from the past:

"apparently the only nice buildings in Bam prior to the quake were the Citadel and the centuries-old Main Mosque (Masjed Jame’a), which went unscathed."

As to rebuilding, you'll notice that the number of schools are more than doubled and the number of mosques are cut in half:

"The reconstruction statistics are impressive: The number of schools more than doubled from 90 to 183. 50 new mosques have replaced the 100 that fell. 11 cultural centers have been built, along with six libraries and three universities – two public and one private. An enormous government worker complex, replete with fountain, wrought-iron gate and covered in Iran’s famed tile, is set to open this spring. Five new fire stations, new police headquarters, new courthouse, amusement park – in short, almost everything a city needs to function is present and brand-new. Everything the federal government constructed has been officially turned over to the city and the state of Kerman, according to Mr. Keshavarzmehr."

And, regarding building codes:

"In Bam, the 20,000 homes destroyed by the quake have been replaced with 26,000 720 to 900 square feet (80 to 100 square meters) complete, modern, earthquake-resistant houses."

Learn to READ

To Anonymous Irani

"frankly beside some stupid religous laws, the IR isn't that bad either"

Then Why did you leave Iran and did not stay to make Iran and the IR even better?!!

The Shah was terrible yet everybody lived in Iran under his dictatorial rule, IR is fantastic yet most of those ( specially on this Website) who praise it are living outside Iran away from it! What gives?!!

isn't that just a tiny example of you guys' enormous hypocrisy?

Thank You . . . .

Thank you so much for your informative photo essay.

It is absolutely great to see the amount of progress that has taken place in that rubble ridden yet beautiful town of Bam.

Many
Iranians in California are involved to a lesser or more extent with
these developments and had shared some of the good news with the
community. To thoroughly see the extent of the work that has gone
on is very positive & uplifting. Thanks again.

Merci Capt (YT) for your reposnse to Building Code in Iran!

That was nice of you. You sound as though you work for Building and Safety, if not having your own practice. A lot of Iranians working here take their knowledge to help Iran. Sepaasgozaar!

what the world can do we can do better

I lived 3 momnths in Iran and from what I saw, despite all the problems, what the world can do we can do better. Bam is the prime example.other was that people were saying iran took missle tech from N Korea, while we showed the world that we are a head od them by many years.
Iranians are amazing, and frankly beside some stupid religous laws, the IR isn't that bad either. We r doing fine in the big picture.