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Iran issues new, lower earthquake death toll

damage

May 13, 1997
Web posted at: 11:16 a.m. EDT (1516 GMT)

QAEN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian officials lowered their estimate of the death toll from the weekend's devastating earthquake Tuesday, while survivors and rescue teams dug through debris amid waning hope of finding more survivors. A new jolt late on Monday struck with a force of 4.8 magnitude, but there was no word on casualties or damage.

The Iranian Ministry of the Interior reported the exact number of dead from the Saturday earthquake counted so far is 1,560, with 2,810 people registered as injured.

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Interior Ministry officials said the death toll may indeed go higher but would not speculate on what the final number might be. Some 148 villages were damaged leaving at least 50,000 people homeless following Saturday's 7.1 magnitude quake, officials said.

There was no explanation for earlier official reports that about 2,400 had died and 6,000 were injured.

United Nations Resident Coordinator for Iran Michael Schulenburg told CNN it will take at least a week for all the dead to be registered.

Schulenburg said his teams on the ground are telling him that reports on Iranian television of up to 4,000 people dead appear to be much too high.

Damage estimate

Rasul Zargar, chief of the Interior Ministry's headquarters in charge of natural disasters, said 10,500 tents, 25,000 blankets and large quantities of food and clothing had been distributed among survivors.


people

The total damage inflicted on the region would be released next week, he added.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies has sent out an appeal for $8.2 million to aid the quake-stricken area. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt are among the nations who have pledged aid.

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Even the United States and Germany -- two countries at odds with Tehran's government -- have promised assistance through the Red Cross. Germany's Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said his country would send $290,000, while Washington has pledged $100,000.

Iranian officials have put a cost of $100 million on damage caused by the earthquake, the second major jolt to strike Iran in less than three months.

About 1,000 people were killed and 2,600 injured in February when a 5.5 magnitude quake hit Iran's northwest.

Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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