Iranian quake kills 500, injures 2,000
Snow, cold hampering rescue efforts
March 1, 1997
Web posted at: 10:55 a.m. EST (1555 GMT)
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- At least 500 people have been killed in
a devastating earthquake in Iran's Ardabil province, about
590 kilometers (365 miles) northwest of Tehran.
Arbadil's Governor-General Ahmadinejad said the quake
partially destroyed thousands of homes in more than 83 villages in
the region, leaving 35,000 homeless in freezing winter
temperatures.
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The Interior Ministry said more than 1,600 people were injured
in the 15-second quake Friday afternoon, but rescue workers
said they feared the toll would rise as teams on foot reached
villages left isolated by the damage.
"Most probably there are more bodies there lying beneath the
rubble," an official with the Red Crescent relief agency
said. "They could not reach them by car so they had to walk
all night until they got there (Saturday)."
An additional 18 inches of snow has fallen over the already
blanketed mountainous area west of the Caspian Sea, hampering
rescue operations.
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Doctors said clinics and hospitals in the region were
overflowing, and aftershocks continued to rattle the area
after the initial quake.
In the tiny village of Villadareh, home to just over 700
people, an aid worker said he had pulled 85 bodies from under
the town's rubble. An Intelligence Ministry official, who had
toured some of the area, said the devastation was worse in
other villages.
"It's a catastrophe," the official said.
"We have lost everything," said Ali Hatami, a Tehran resident
whose family lives in the village of Varania. "Only 20 people
have survived out of a population of 85."
Ardabil is an agricultural province populated mainly by
Iran's Azeri minority.
The Iranian government has called for three days of mourning
for victims of the quake, which struck at 4:27 p.m.
Friday afternoon. The state news agencies reported the quake
measured a 5.5 magnitude. The U.S. Earthquake Information
Center put the magnitude at 6.1.
Earthquakes measuring 6.1 and 5.4 on the Richter scale killed
at least 79 people and injured 260 in northeastern Iran last
month.
Correspondent Shirzad Bozorgmehr and Reuters contributed to this report.
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