http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1423018,00.htmlA powerful earthquake hit south-eastern Iran early yesterday, killing hundreds of people and destroying mountain villages.
The quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, was centred on Zarand, in Kerman province, about 160 miles from Bam, the historic city devastated by another earthquake just over a year ago with the loss of more than 30,000 lives. Iranian television showed villagers scrabbling through rubble with their bare hands in search of friends and relatives. Others carried away bodies wrapped in bedding. “All the houses have been completely destroyed,” said Kari Egge, Unicef’s representative in Iran, speaking from Dohan village in the mountains near Zarand. “It is cold and raining so supplies such as shelter, food, water and blankets are essential,” she said. “Our priority at this stage is to find out what the needs are on the ground, particularly regarding women and children.” A Unicef team comprising an emergency coordinator, a child protection officer, a water and sanitation officer and a health officer hurried to the area from Bam. Dozens of villages were hit and three were said to be more than 90% destroyed. One was cut off by a blocked road. Mud-brick houses were the worst affected but towns in the area with stronger buildings appeared to have escaped heavy damage. “The toll now stands at 377 dead and more than 1,000 injured,” Ali Komsari, a spokesman for the Kerman provincial governor’s office, told Reuters. There were fears last night that the death toll might rise further, though a large increase was unlikely because the area is sparsely populated.
Poor weather slowed the rescue effort, preventing the use of helicopters, officials said. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, based in Geneva, said relief teams from the Iranian Red Crescent were distributing food, tents and blankets. About 1,500 workers from the Iranian agency, with sniffer dogs and mountain rescue teams, moved into the affected areas with supplies. “We were told there is no need for international rescue teams. Everything is under control, this size [of earthquake] is manageable,” a spokesman said. Iranian relief officials said they were benefiting from the lessons of the far more devastating earthquake that hit Bam. “The earthquake in 2003 gave us a very good experience of how to deal with such a natural disaster,” Mostafa Soltani, an official in Kerman told the Associated Press. “Despite the rain, relief operations are going smoothly.” Emergency officials were trying to evacuate survivors to towns and cities nearby. “All hospitals in Zarand are filled to capacity with the injured,” state television said. It quoted the governor of Zarand as saying that power supplies in the region had been disrupted. He said more medicine, syringes and tents were needed. Although yesterday’s earthquake was only slightly less powerful than the one in Bam, the US geological survey said it occurred 26 miles underground, against only six miles in Bam. Experts said the greater depth would have reduced the devastation on the surface. Iran is criss-crossed by seismic fault lines. The worst recent earthquake, in 1990, killed about 50,000 people in north-west Iran.
In pictures: Earthquake in IranMap: where the earthquake struck