TEHRAN: Iran stepped up rescue efforts yesterday for survivors of a powerful earthquake that killed 37 people and damaged dozens of villages but left its sole nuclear power station unscathed.
More than 90 villages in the southern province of Bushehr were hit hard by Tuesday’s quake, with two completely destroyed, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, told state television.
More than 850 people were injured and some 800 houses razed to the ground.
Mozafar said the priority was to get aid to stricken villages after the search for survivors was wrapped up yesterday morning.
Ali Alipour, who owns a cultural center in the village of Khormoj, some 35 kilometers (20 miles) from the quake’s epicenter, said he had run for cover when it hit and “the sound of death filled the fields.”
“Water and food are being distributed among survivors,” Alipour told AFP by telephone.
Authorities said the relief operation got underway a few hours after the 6.1-magnitude quake struck at 4:22 p.m. on Tuesday.
Some 2,100 tents have been set up in the quake zone, emergency officials said.
The epicenter was barely 90 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of the port city of Bushehr, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.
Iran said it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that there had been no damage to the plant.
The UN watchdog said its incident and emergency center was “not currently seeking additional information from Iran” following analysis of the “earthquake’s magnitude and other seismic parameters, as well as its location.”
Iran’s atomic energy chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said the plant was not operational when the quake struck as it was “under maintenance,” Iranian media reported.
The Russian-built plant was designed to withstand an earthquake of a magnitude greater than 8, Abbasi Davani added.
The plant’s chief engineer, Mahmoud Jafari, said “no operational or security protocols were breached.”
First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar traveled to the quake zone to check on relief operations, state television reported.
A resident, who asked not to be identified, said power and water supplies were “gradually being restored.”
The US Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity worldwide, ranked the quake at a more powerful 6.3 magnitude.
Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.
Death toll rises to 37 in Iran deadly quake
Death toll rises to 37 in Iran deadly quake
Lebanon approves financial gap draft law despite opposition from Hezbollah and Lebanese Forces
- Legislation aims to address the fate of billions of dollars in deposits that have been inaccessible to Lebanese citizens during the country’s financial meltdown
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Cabinet on Friday approved a controversial draft law to regulate financial recovery and return frozen bank deposits to citizens. The move is seen as a key step in long-delayed economic reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund.
The decision, which passed with 13 ministers voting in favor and nine against, came after marathon discussions over the so-called “financial gap” or deposit recovery bill, stalled for years since the banking crisis erupted in 2019. The ministers of culture and foreign affairs were absent from the session.
The legislation aims to address the fate of billions of dollars in deposits that have been inaccessible to Lebanese citizens during the country’s financial meltdown.
The vote was opposed by three ministers from the Lebanese Forces Party, three ministers from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, as well as the minister of youth and sports, Nora Bayrakdarian, the minister of communications, Charles Al-Hajj, and the minister of justice, Adel Nassar.
Finance Minister Yassin Jaber broke ranks with his Hezbollah and Amal allies, voting in favor of the bill. He described his decision as being in line with “Lebanon’s supreme financial interest and its obligations to the IMF and the international community.”
The draft law triggered fierce backlash from depositors who reject any suggestion they shoulder responsibility for the financial collapse. It has also drawn strong criticism from the Association of Banks and parliamentary blocs, fueling fears the law will face intense political wrangling in Parliament ahead of elections scheduled in six months.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam confirmed the Cabinet had approved the bill and referred it to Parliament for debate and amendments before final ratification. Addressing public concerns, he emphasized that the law includes provisions for forensic auditing and accountability.
“Depositors with accounts under $100,000 will be repaid in full with interest and without any deductions,” Salam said. “Large depositors will also receive their first $100,000 in full, and the remainder will be issued as negotiable bonds backed by the assets of the Central Bank, valued at around $50 billion.”
He said further that bondholders will receive an initial 2 percent payout after the first tranche of repayments is completed.
The law also includes a clause requiring criminal accountability. “Anyone who smuggled funds abroad or benefited from unjustified profits will be fined 30 percent,” Salam said.
He emphasized that Lebanon’s gold reserves will remain untouched. “A clear provision reaffirms the 1986 law barring the sale or mortgaging of gold without parliamentary approval,” he said, dismissing speculation about using the reserves to cover financial losses.
Salam admitted that the law was not perfect but called it “a fair step toward restoring rights.”
“The banking sector’s credibility has been severely damaged. This law aims to revive it by valuing assets, recapitalizing banks, and ending Lebanon’s dangerous reliance on a cash economy,” he said. “Each day of delay further erodes people’s rights.”
While the Association of Banks did not release an immediate response after the vote, it previously argued during discussions that the law would destroy remaining deposits. Bank representatives said lenders would struggle to secure more than $20 billion to cover the initial repayment tier and accused the state of absolving itself of responsibility while effectively granting amnesty for decades of financial mismanagement and corruption.
The law’s fate now rests with Parliament, where political competition ahead of the 2025 elections could complicate or delay its passage.
Lebanon’s banking sector has been at the heart of the country’s economic collapse, with informal capital controls locking depositors out of their savings and trust in state institutions plunging. International donors, including the IMF, have made reforms to the sector a key condition for any financial assistance.
