Artists, figures support Kermanshah earthquake victims anyway

Iranian artists and international figures have supported victims of Iran and Iraq earthquake on Sunday night.

Iran’s art community is launching charity programs in the wake of the earthquake. Several domestic cinema theaters, theater halls and book shops have also planned to donate a percentage of their sales to help the affected people.

Celebrated actor Navid Mohammadzadeh dedicated his award from the 10th Bratislava International Film Festival in Slovakia to the victims of the earthquake. Mohammadzadeh, 31, recently won the Best Actor Award for his role in the feature ‘No Date, No Signature’ by Vahid Jalilvand.

Legendary Iranian vocalist Shahram Nazeri and the traditional music band of Kamkars are to join together in a concert to raise funds for the victims of the devastating earthquake.

Pop singer Farzad Farzin and rock star Reza Yazdani have also pledged that they will dedicate part of the profit from their upcoming concerts to the victims.

Two young Iranian inventors in capital of East Azarbaijan province, Cyrus Paldi and Javad Dastyafteh, put their world medals on auction for quake-hit children.

This is while a large number of famous world figures have published their messages of condolence to all of those affected by the earthquake in Iran and Iraq.

Pope Francis, the Pope of the Catholic Church, the US State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier are most notable among them.

Earlier on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah condoled Iran over the tragedy.

Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Irish President Michael Higgins, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini were among other high-ranking officials who offered sympathy to Iran.

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck villages and towns in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah on Sunday night, killing hundreds and injuring thousands.

The quake is believed to hit the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 15km from the border in Kermanshah, the hardest. The death toll is expected to grow, some buildings are razed to ground and dozens are still trapped under rubble.

Regional countries including Turkey, Kuwait, and the UAE also reported feeling a tremor. The quake-hit regions are now stage of inextricably mixed tragic, altruistic and hopeful scenes.

MG/MG