Al-Monitor - Sarpol-e Zahab was the city hardest hit by a devastating earthquake that rocked most of Iran's western Kermanshah province Nov. 12, 2017, killing over 600 people. It is also where children still play a game where they simulate the quake by making the horrible sounds and frightening each other in the rubble � an indication of just how entangled the disaster has become with the lives of traumatized survivors.

Media reports on the ground show that the misery is far from over and a complete return to normal life remains a dream to come true. "People have gotten used to living in the midst of the rubble, the dirt and the metal shelters, which are but a real home," a survivor told Jahan Sanat daily. "Every time it rains, we are stuck in mud up to our knees. After one year, conditions are still awful � nothing has changed," complained a woman from a quake-hit village.

To make matters worse, lack of proper shelter has been coupled with recent biting inflation in Iran, rooted in the currency devaluation resulting from the US decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal. "The rising prices have been twice as much devastating as the quake," locals told Iranian Labour News Agency.

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