http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3498851.stm

What is it with Iran at the moment? As if the boxing day earthquake wasn't enough with 40,000 dead (just think about it 40,000- that's about half of the city of Exeter)-now this train thing has to happen.
I'm off to give another £20 to the Bam earthquake fund.

Sorry but i have no sympathy ..

Hundreds more were injured when wagons carrying sulphur, petrol and fertiliser derailed, caught fire and blew up.

Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil bomb anyone ?

D. Heavy Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil Explosive
It is blended by emulsion explosive and ammonium nitrate fuel oil explosive according to certain proportion with advantages of good explosive ability, low price and adjustable density. It is quite suiltable for smelting, building material and mining. Its explosive performance is between emulsion explosive and ammonium nitrate feul oil explosive.

fireboy spouted:
Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil bomb anyone ?

I'll take 4! Wait... er... that is an offer, isn't it?

fireboy spouted:
Sorry but i have no sympathy ...
In a democracy you can have no sympathy for people doing the bidding of the government they elect.

Bam was an illustration of the failure of this dictatorship. Many more people died in Bam than would have died elsewhere, because the Iranian government thinks it's most important to organise demos against US/Israel than to do the hard work of disaster relief, building codes, safe handling of hazardous material, that boring but necessary work that justifies the existance of government.

I hope your £20 is well spent - there's plenty more to be spent on that place, a pressure cooker with no valve.

You can dislike the government all you want- but the fact remains that people live there and they've had two really shitty things happen in a very short space of time.

Yeah but the point is there was a bigger earthquake in SF around the same time as Bam but three people were mildly injured because the politicians there are prepared to do thier jobs properly and concentrate on boring but important things like building regs rather than exciting but pointless things like running up and down the streets burning flags and beating their chests.

The politicians don't run Iran.

Unfortunatley Iran is a democracy only in name. The clerics hold power there, and they don't want to give it up.

IIRC alot of thier MPs have quit parliament over restrictions the Imans have put on electorial candidates (i.e. they've rigged the vote in their favour after the last election showed most of the people were in favour of a more moderate government).

They probably think the earthquake was an act of God or something, and all the victims were infidels...

I take your point, I wasn't clear but I was referring to those who exercise political power which means the mad mullahs in Iran's case. Unfortunately for your average Iranian.

My point was made more at cor_innit's post....


In a democracy you can have no sympathy for people doing the bidding of the government they elect.


Note to self, must learn how to use quote button! ;P

And smilies, is there a smiley faq around here that I've missed?

Smilies Here (http://www.dogbomb.co.uk/board/misc.php?s=&action=showsmilies)

You can dislike the government all you want- but the fact remains that people live there and they've had two really shitty things happen in a very short space of time.
Quite so li'l al, my beef was with fireboy. Good points joba and harry.

so much for allah ...

Was he allowed to stand in the election or did the mullahs bar him?

cor_innit spouted:

Quite so li'l al, my beef was with fireboy. Good points joba and harry.

Beef away, my original comment still stands.Should i have to justify this, fine by all means, but please let me know what your problem is tho ...

Ah smilies, thanks! :)

OK, having read a little more about it now, my sympathies are with the emergency services who came to the aid of those affected by the accident, especially the fire fighters who lost their lives when the main explosion occured.

Yes it is a country with problems, yes they have had a bad run of it - but what the hell where the thinking when transporting such a load ????? Whoever decided to allow that rolling stock onto the lines is reponsible, it does not take a great deal of common sense to work out you have the components of a bomb there, albeit a simple one, but a bomb none the less.

least ..."i got the bear that got me..."
an old 1850's caricature
see i guy was mauled to death but he first shot the bear that killed him, subsequntlly the bear died.
see alotto guv officials were at the train wreck when it ent:
kaboom

hahaha.it's ok…………

fireboy spouted:
Beef away, my original comment still stands.Should i have to justify this, fine by all means, but please let me know what your problem is tho ...
In my first post in this thread fireboy I did just that, RTFthread. For further information you'll have to do a bit of reading on Iran over the last quarter century. It involves more than the explosion, more than the earthquake. You probably think you have better things to do.

I am always looking to expand understanding, so rahter than you try to sell me short, once i have recieved and read Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution

Synopsis
In this revised and expanded version of Nikki Keddie's work, "Roots of Revolution", the author brings the story of modern Iran to the present day, exploring the political, cultural, and social changes of the past quarter century. Keddie provides insightful commentary on the Iran-Iraq war, the Persian Gulf War, and the effects of 9/11 and Iran's strategic relationship with the US. She also discusses developments in education, health care, the arts and the role of women.

I may feel more inclined to make suitable/appropriate comments. Until such times i will leave you to your pedestal.

I never thought you weren't a clever bloke fireboy, far from it. My concern was in the phrase: "Sorry but i have no sympathy ..." for people who clearly deserve it.

The idea of getting knowledge is not to get up on a pedestal, it's to apply that knowledge. Good luck with the reading. Could I also recommend The Arabs by Peter Mansfield (Penguin), which gives a good overview of the Middle East: Iran (even though they're not Arabs), Saudi, Palestine, the whole lot.

As far as I know, the buildings in Bam were centuries old so 'regulations' are out of the question....anyway, they suffered an earthquake, not two inches of snow.

The regulations insisted that what was good enough 2000 years ago in terms of building construction was good enough for today. Regulatons should also have taken into account strategies as to what to do in an emergency situation like this, an earthquake in a zone where earthquakes are not unknown.

They could have done more to prevent loss of life and they didn't, a harsh call on any government, a condemnation of one supposedly founded on religious principles.

maybe they could have done more, but exactly what? They are god fearing people, and if they believe that it was god's doing then it cannot be prevented....destiny....you gotta go some day...and you can't choose when or where.

I read that Iran is digging deep deep holes here and there. I guess they think Bush is coming. Dont blame them for wanting nuclear weapons

lots of people in Iran no longer want to be governed by the clerics, but the people are aware of their own history with the US. The Shah gave massive donations to Nixon, which ordinary Iranians werent happy with. understandably they dont want the US interfering in their country. perhaps that is slightly rose-tinted, but in essence it is what has happened.

maybe they could have done more, but exactly what? They are god fearing people, and if they believe that it was god's doing then it cannot be prevented....destiny....you gotta go some day...and you can't choose when or where.
What patronising tosh this is.

Japan, San Francisco and New Zealand are three parts of the world prone to earthquakes. In each of those places, there are building codes designed to minimise loss of life, and emergency services who prepare for earthquake scenarios. Moaning about Israel won't make a blind bit of difference.