TEHRAN,
February 22, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At least
400 were reported killed and thousands others injured Tuesday,
February 22, when a powerful earthquake hit southeastern Iran.
“Figures
we have show that in the early hours more than 1,000 were injured and
almost 400 killed,” Ali Komsari, a spokesman for the Kerman
provincial governor's office, told Reuters.
The
6.4 magnitude quake, which struck the Islamic republic at about 06:00
(02:32 GMT), was centered on the town of Zarand in Kerman province,
about 700 km (440 miles) southeast of Tehran.
Several
villages were reportedly devastated by the tremor with at least one
settlement that could not be reached because of blocked roads, Agence
France Presse (AFP) reported.
People
in the devastated area have been asked to stay outdoors for fear of
aftershocks.
The
Iranian interior ministry said there have already been 20 aftershocks.
A
spokesman for the governor's office in Zarand, which has a population
of about 15,000 people, said they had identified and registered 137
bodies, but added that 400 people were known to have died so far,
according to the BBC News Online.
“A
hundred bodies have been recovered from the rubble, there are five
thousand injured,” said Ali Sharifi, head of the Kerman university
hospital.
“But
many villages have still not been reached by the rescue services, and
we think therefore that the toll could go a lot higher,” he said on
Iranian state radio.
Rescue
Efforts
Eleven
rescue teams have been sent to the devastated areas, including police,
military and helicopters, to offer help to the afflicted people.
“Up
till now we have sent two helicopters to the scene and another four
are preparing to take off,” said Mohsen Salehi, an official with the
natural disasters service in Kerman.
He
stressed that five villages in the region suffered 20 percent to 70
percent damage, and at least one village was completely cut off due to
blocked roads.
Iran
has at least a minor earthquake almost every day.
The
United Nations says Iran is the worst country in the world in terms of
earthquakes.
Seismologists
say this is because Iran is at the confluence of three of the Earth's
plates and is literally being squeezed by them.
In
December 2003, a massive quake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale
