Russia, Armenia sending humanitarian aid to Iran flood survivors

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Russian Emergencies Ministry, together with the Armenian Emergencies Ministry, have begun delivering humanitarian aid to Iran affected by floods, Mehr News Agency reports.

Humanitarian aid shipments will be sent from the Russian-Armenian Humanitarian Response Center in Armenia to Iran and will be delivered to the Iranian Red Crescent Society in the northern city of Rasht, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Saturday.

Referring to the close relationship between the two sides and continuous contact of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations with IRCS over people’s need in the flood-affected areas, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the ministry to send humanitarian aid to help salvage the damages.

The cargo includes more than 4,000 tents, folding beds, blankets and other essential items.

Earlier, Iranians who are living in Russia and the Iranian Embassy in Moscow joined IRCS to help the victims of recent floods in the country.

Exceptionally heavy rains since March 19 have flooded some 1,900 cities and villages across Iran, claiming 56 lives, according to Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to Iranian agriculture. Floods have affected several provinces in the north and west of the country including, Golestan, Mazandaran, Lorestan, and Khuzestan.