Word: shahs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Through the rubble heap that had once been the quiet farming village of Buin walked Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, Shah of Iran. On either side, the ruins of mud-brick houses were piled high above him; the sickening stench of unburied bodies poisoned the air. Grimy, sobbing villagers milled around him. "I have lost all I had. O Father of the Nation," cried one old woman, falling to her knees. "My husband, two sons, four daughters, and my two brothers with their nine children...
Finally, the Shah climbed onto the hood of an army truck to list the villagers' immediate needs. There were only 400 clustered around him; 3.000 of Buin's 6,500 people had perished in one horrifying minute. The earthquake that demolished Buin and 100 other villages had already accounted for some 10.000 deaths; hundreds more were reported daily as masked Iranian soldiers shoveled through the debris in search of bodies...
...Shah flew from village to village, damage seemed even worse than at first expected. Wailed the village mullah of Danesfahan, where 3,200 of 4,500 inhabitants perished: "We have brought this evil on ourselves. It is God's vengeance for our sins." But the real evil, experts decided, lies in the peasants' age-old technique of building thick-walled, mud-brick houses that instantly collapse on their occupants in an earthquake. After his inspection, the Shah announced plans to rebuild the nation's 50.000 mud-hut villages.* It will take at least 15 years...
...palace that Architects Benjamin Brown and Spero Daltas designed for the Shah's younger sister, Fatemeh, is walled in travertine, teakwood and glass, and alive with water and sunlight. But the most striking feature is the roof. Columns formed by eight 2-in. steel tubes rise and fan out to support octagonal canopies of glazed brick, interspersed here and there with clear glass skylights...
Palace for a 75-minute conference with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. To Johnson's expression of U.S. confidence in the goals of his government, the Shah responded at length and with passion: he reiterated his dedication to bettering the lot of his people, pledged to carry forward reforms in agriculture and education, reminded his guests that he had recently given more than $130 million of his personal fortune to improve the health and welfare of Iranians...