The Hindu : Front Page : Earthquake kills 500 in Iran

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

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Earthquake kills 500 in Iran

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, FEB. 22. A powerful earthquake has killed at least 500 people and injured 1,000 in south-east Iran.

The quake, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, was centred near Zarand in the Kerman province. The area is about 200 km north-west of Bam, the historic city that was hit by a massive earthquake in 2003, causing over 30,000 deaths.

Iranian authorities say that nearly 70 per cent of the buildings in six villages around Zarand have either been damaged or destroyed. The temblor has caused extensive damage in three villages, one of which is still inaccessible because a landslip triggered by the quake has blocked the way. Reports from Teheran say that many in this village of 1,500 were participating in a religious ceremony when the quake struck. It is feared that many of them have been buried under the rubble.

Substantial damage

"Figures we have show that in the early hours more than 1,000 were injured and almost 400 killed," said Ali Komsari, a spokesperson for the Kerman provincial Governor's office.

The Zarand Governor, Javad Rashidi, said the death toll stood at 130. "But there is a possibility for the figure to rise to 500," he told the semi-official ISNA students news agency. Iranian television later said that 500 people died and 96 bodies had been recovered and identified.

Mohammad Ali Karimi, Governor of Kerman province, said the area affected by the earthquake had a population of about 30,000 in about 40 villages, which had suffered 20 to 90 per cent structural damage.

Iranian officials say that despite the extensive physical devastation, the temblor may have killed relatively less number of people because the affected area was thinly populated.

While villages have faced the brunt, major towns and cities in the area appeared to have escaped heavy damage, "In Zarand and Kerman only some walls have collapsed and there were no casualties," the Interior Ministry spokesman, Jahanbakhsh Khanjani, said.

Rescue teams dispatched

So far 11 rescue teams have been dispatched to the affected area. A spokesperson for the Geneva-based International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Marie-Francoise Borel, said that three Iranian government planes were carrying relief goods to the stricken area. "For the moment there is no need for international help," she said.

Despite heavy rains, rescue workers have advised people to stay outdoors in anticipation of aftershocks. Already 20 aftershocks have been recorded. Authorities have shut off gas in the area as a precaution, ordered people not to use mobile telephones and closed schools functioning from mud-houses.

Iran is the world's most earthquake prone country, according to the United Nations. Seismologists say that this is because Iran is at the junction of three of the earth's plates.

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