Iranian athletes are closing ranks to help the earthquake victims in the western Kermanshah Province.
The 7.3-magnitude quake struck in the remote border area between Iran and Iraq late Sunday and left thousands of people injured and hundreds of villages destroyed. It jolted the western province of Kermanshah at 9:48 pm (local time) and has claimed 530 lives and injured about 7,800 people, based on reports until Tuesday evening.
The athlete’s efforts go beyond empathy. Ali Daei, football coach and former player and world record holder for international goalscoring, was among the first to help those in need by starting a campaign in Tehran to gather humanitarian aid for Kermanshah.
Iran’s Olympic weightlifting champion Kianoush Rostami put his Rio Olympics 2016 gold medal for auction to raise money for the quake-stricken areas.
“I found myself responsible to take a step, however small, to help my countrymen by selling my medal,” Rostami said. “The medal indeed belonged to my countrymen and I am just giving it back to them.”
Moreover, two major Iranian football clubs Esteghlal and Persepolis, provided 2,000 blankets to be distributed among people, in the quake-stricken regions in western Iran, whose houses have been damaged and who are left without shelter in the cold weather.
Wrestling champions and national team members also visited the affercted areas to sympathize with the people and deliver aid provided by the Iran Wrestling Federation.
Iran’s sporting community has always been beside the people during natural calamities such as the 2003 Bam earthquake in Bam City, Kerman Province, in which more than 26,000 were killed and over 30,000 were injured.
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