April 20, 2010

A senior Iranian cleric said that women who wear immodest clothing and behave promiscuously are responsible for earthquakes happening. He said, "Many women who do not dress modestly...lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes." Wow, that sounds like some airtight logic. He added, "What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble? There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes." In Iran, women are required by law to cover from head to toe. However, many women, especially the younger generations, ignore some of the more strict codes and wear tight coats and scarves pulled back that show their hair.

Iran is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. Seismologists have warned for at least two decades that it is likely that Tehran, the capital, will be truck by a strong earthquake in the near future. Tehran straddles several fault lines, including one more than 50 miles long. Some experts have even suggested that Iran should move its capital to a less seismically-active location. Though, Tehran hasn't suffered a major earthquake since 1830 (though a powerful earthquake did hit the city of Bam in 2003, killing 31,000 people). Two weeks ago, President Ahmadinejad predicted that an earthquake is certain to hit Tehran (but he did not give an exact date) and that many of its 12 million residents should relocate. He acknowledged that he could not order all 12 million people to evacuate, but he did say "provisions have to be made...at least 5 million should leave Tehran so it's less crowded." I can see it now, Ahmadinejad addressing the people, 'Hmm, how should we do this? It should be random -- to be fair, of course. Oh I got an idea: I'll just pick a random color and month. Ok, so, if you happened to wear a lot of green in the month of June, please get on this bus that will be relocating you outside of the capital.'

The welfare minister of Iran said, "We cannot invent a system that prevents earthquakes, but God has created this system and that is to avoid sins, to pray, to seek forgiveness, pay alms, and self-sacrifice." Ah yes, don't you just love the A-Form-of-Punishment-From-God explanation for natural disasters? (Full Story)