Shock, destruction, and despair.

Dearest Friends and Family,

I was devastated when I learned that thousands of miles away from where I live in Sacramento, California, the ancient city of Bam, Iran, was changed overnight from a bustling city full of life, to a shattered home of death and destruction. The overpowering earthquake (measured as 6.7 on the Richter scale) struck at 5:28 AM local time, while most of the town was still asleep. Many were crushed by their mud-brick houses, and those who survived were severely injured. Watching the ruin from the safety of my living room, I thought to myself that there has to be a way that we could ease their suffering, even if it is from thousands of miles away.

Knowing that I could rely on my family and closest friends to help out, I opened my phone book and wrote all the appropriate names and numbers I could think of on a piece of paper. If everyone I contacted gave $20, I might have as much as $700 to send to help the earthquake victims. Keep in mind that $700 is a very large sum for Iran, where $120 is the average monthly income. You could imagine my surprise when within the first two hours of contacting friends and family, we had raised over $2,000!

At this point, I called my brother Abdollah in Tehran and told him that we were collecting funds. He told me that aid was needed immediately because thousands of people who were lucky enough to have survived the earthquake were dying needlessly due to the lack of proper medical care. Abdollah had already been in contact with a doctor, Dr. Birjandi, whom he saw on television from the town of Jiroft (70 km outside of Bam.) The doctor was crying and saying that there were many injured people that were dying because they did not have a proper surgery center to treat them - or even beds to lie on where they would be comfortable. I let Abdollah know that they could spend $2,000 on supplies to send to the hospital, and I would reimburse him later. I also let him know that I would call if there were more contributions.

People being treated on the ground. Let us make a difference and allow them to sleep on a hospital bed instead.

After I got off the phone with Iran, I decided that I would make use of the 21st century's medium of choice for communication to further the effort. With the help of my daughter, I drafted an e-mail that arrived in most of your inboxes on Sunday, December 28th. After the e-mail was sent, the outpouring of love, support and generosity from those who received it was astounding.

By Tuesday morning, we had about $10,000 - enough to buy 30 hospital beds with mattresses and pillows, 70 bed sheets, an EKG machine, five oxygen tanks, an autoclave, five wheelchairs, and a pulse oximeter. Abdollah and my younger brother, Abbas, personally purchased the supplies and loaded them into trucks. Along with Abbas' friend Colonel Amirani, and the trucks full of supplies they headed towards Jiroft on Tuesday evening.

When they arrived in Jiroft, 20 hours later, they saw that the hospital was so overwhelmed that patients were lying injured in the yard. The medical equipment that was present was outdated, and much of it could not be used. Two nights later, when I spoke with Dr. Birjandi, he said, "When I saw the two trucks loaded with beds and equipment, tears rolled down my face and I was so touched that people from the other side of the world care so much about these devastated and helpless victims." He told me that he is counting on our help and support to continue to build an area where sick and injured people can be properly treated.

As of tonight, the first night of the New Year of 2004, we have about $15,000. With that money, we have also purchased two infusion pumps that should be airlifted to Jiroft within the next two days.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all who contributed to this effort and to those who continue to contribute. Because of your help and support, many lives are being saved and at least thirty injured patients are lying comfortably in beds that were purchased with your funds, instead of on the floor or in the yard. Let's continue to provide aid for the hospital and patients until we know that they are able to be properly treated.

As for our team in Iran, I would like to thank my brothers Abdollah and Abbas, and Abbas' friend Colonel Amirani for purchasing and delivering the supplies - without their help, this would have not been possible. I appreciate my sister Simin, sister-in-law Feri, and my niece Parisa for sewing all the sheets to fit the hospital beds.

I also would like to thank DigiStack Inc. for donating this website and spending time to set up and maintain the site, so you and I, and our friends in Iran could be updated on this effort.

I will promise to keep you updated with any new developments in our project.

With Deep Gratitude,
Assad Zamani
January 1, 2004
assad@bftech.net

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