An earthquake Saturday, August 11 that killed hundreds and injured thousands in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province has sparked harsh criticism of the Iranian government and especially of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who chose to visit Saudi Arabia two days after the disaster instead of the afflicted areas of his own country.

For Ahmadinejad’s domestic adversaries, his decision to go ahead with plans to attend the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Mecca was like throwing fresh meat to circling piranhas.

Iran’s presidents have never been short of rivals or criticism and that has been particularly so for Ahmadinejad, who has lost much of his clout in recent months and whose term in office ends in less than a year. However, Ahmadinejad’s decision to shun those affected by the earthquake has opened him up to new charges of insensitivity and arrogance.

Two days after the earthquake, while Ahmadinejad was in Saudi Arabia, only two surgeons had arrived at damaged villages near the town of Ahar, according to Mehr News. Meanwhile, survivors had to wait more than 40 hours for food. Many were forced to drink water from unsafe sources due to lack of clean water.

The government’s poor performance is reminiscent of the failure of President George W. Bush’s administration to provide assistance to the victims of the 2005 hurricane Katrina. While clearly struggling to cope with the disaster alone, however, Iran also initially spurned offers of outside help from the United States and Turkey and did not appeal to United Nations or other international relief organizations.

An important question is, why did Ahmadinejad’s boss, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, let the president go to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the earthquake? As Iran’s most powerful figure, counteracting Ahmadinejad’s plans would have been well within Khamenei’s remit.