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| Wednesday, 23 February 2005 |
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More than 270 dead as quake hits Iran TEHRAN, Tuesday (AFP) More than 270 people were killed when a powerful earthquake struck Iran before dawn Tuesday, leaving weeping villagers to claw through the rubble of their mud-brick homes in search of missing family and friends. Whole villages were flattened by the force of the quake in the southeastern province of Kerman, the deadliest since December 2003 when more than 30,000 people perished in the ancient city of Bam, 200 kilometres (120 miles) away. Hospitals in the region were overwhelmed and officials warned that the casualty toll could rise further as rain and blocked roads made it difficult to reach stricken mountain villages. Provincial governor Mohammad Ali Karimi said at least 270 people had been killed and more than 700 injured, including 500 who needed hospital treatment, in the quake which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale. Most of the dead were in the Zarand region north of the provincial capital of Kerman. Villagers in the stricken area scrambled to pull bodies from the rubble of their mud-brick built houses, wailing in distress amid roads strewn with debris. Karimi said 40 villages which are home to more than 30,000 residents were affected. Half of them, including Dahuyeh village which has a population of 820, were reduced to rubble, said the Iranian Red Crescent. Only the green dome of the Sultan Seyed Ibrahim mausoleum was left standing. Several hours later, men were seen desperately overturning rubble brick by brick to search for survivors. Others who had miraculously escaped when their simple mud-brick homes collapsed sat among the debris, ankle deep in mud, wrapped in blankets handed out by dozens of rescue workers, soldiers and volunteers. The governor said the rescue effort was completed by early afternoon in most of the affected area, apart from three or four remote villages where rescue teams feared the worst. "We think the death toll will climb to more than 500 ... once we have gained access to the villages" with the use of helicopters, Iraj Sharifi of the Kerman hospital services told AFP. |
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