By Ladane Nasseri - 2012-08-13T06:37:55Z
Iran announced two days of mourning as relief efforts turned to aiding survivors following two earthquakes in the northwest that killed at least 227 people and left thousands homeless.
The government has provided emergency accommodation to some 16,000 people and set up 5,600 tents, Mahmoud Mozafar, head of relief and rescue at Iran’s Red Crescent Society, said according to state TV. Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said the quakes left at least 227 people dead.
Iran announced two days of public mourning in East Azerbaijan, the province struck by the quakes. The northwest is home to Azeris, who speak a Turkic language and are the country’s largest ethnic minority.
Iran sits on several fault lines and is frequently hit by earthquakes. An estimated 40,000 people were killed in 2003 when a temblor flattened the city of Bam in the southern province of Kerman.
The U.S. said yesterday it stands ready to offer assistance, according to a White House statement e-mailed to reporters.
Earlier in the day, Mohammad-Najjar said Iran had received offers from abroad and had declined them.
“We will carry out relief work by relying on our domestic potential,” IRNA quoted Mohammad-Najjar as saying.
Five villages in the Ahar region were flattened and at least 40 sustained damage, Reza Sedighi, the governor of Ahar county, said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Moharram Foroughi, the governor of Varzaghan county, said 12 villages in his region were destroyed, according to another IRNA report.
The earthquakes “should have at most injured 10 people,” Bahram Akasheh, a seismologist, told the Iranian Labor News Agency. “A great deal of damage was sustained because of the unsuitable structures in our provinces and villages.”
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quakes hit within 11 minutes of each other in the late afternoon. The first had a magnitude of 6.4 with an epicenter 12 miles (20 kilometers) west-southwest of Ahar. It was followed by a magnitude-6.3 temblor 19 miles west-southwest of the area. Both occurred at a depth of less than 6.2 miles, the USGS said in advisories on its website.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
Iran announced two days of mourning as relief efforts turned to aiding survivors following two earthquakes in the northwest that killed at least 227 people and left thousands homeless.
The government has provided emergency accommodation to some 16,000 people and set up 5,600 tents, Mahmoud Mozafar, head of relief and rescue at Iran’s Red Crescent Society, said according to state TV. Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said the quakes left at least 227 people dead.
Iran announced two days of public mourning in East Azerbaijan, the province struck by the quakes. The northwest is home to Azeris, who speak a Turkic language and are the country’s largest ethnic minority.
Iran sits on several fault lines and is frequently hit by earthquakes. An estimated 40,000 people were killed in 2003 when a temblor flattened the city of Bam in the southern province of Kerman.
The U.S. said yesterday it stands ready to offer assistance, according to a White House statement e-mailed to reporters.
Earlier in the day, Mohammad-Najjar said Iran had received offers from abroad and had declined them.
“We will carry out relief work by relying on our domestic potential,” IRNA quoted Mohammad-Najjar as saying.
Five villages in the Ahar region were flattened and at least 40 sustained damage, Reza Sedighi, the governor of Ahar county, said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Moharram Foroughi, the governor of Varzaghan county, said 12 villages in his region were destroyed, according to another IRNA report.
The earthquakes “should have at most injured 10 people,” Bahram Akasheh, a seismologist, told the Iranian Labor News Agency. “A great deal of damage was sustained because of the unsuitable structures in our provinces and villages.”
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quakes hit within 11 minutes of each other in the late afternoon. The first had a magnitude of 6.4 with an epicenter 12 miles (20 kilometers) west-southwest of Ahar. It was followed by a magnitude-6.3 temblor 19 miles west-southwest of the area. Both occurred at a depth of less than 6.2 miles, the USGS said in advisories on its website.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]