Qazvin,
(Iran), June 22
A strong earthquake in northern Iran killed more than 500 persons and
injured 1,100 as it devastated dozens of villages in a mountainous rural
region.
A local official said 500 persons were so far reported dead and
another 1,159 injured by the quake which measured 6.3 on the Richter
scale.
Helicopters and rescue teams rushed to search for survivors in the
area whose mud-brick homes are particularly vulnerable to collapse.
The quake struck shortly before 0830 hrs IST with its epicentre about
115 km southwest of the city of Qazvin and some 250 km west of the
capital Tehran.
The official told the IRNA state news agency that some 60 villages
around the town of Avaj had been razed to the ground or lost at least
half of their buildings.
A pair of strong after-shocks inflicted more damage. A Qazvin medical
official said 206 dead persons had been taken to one hospital in the
city and 170 to another.
Ambulances screamed along the road to Qazvin, delivering more dead
and wounded to hospitals in the region. Non-critical patients were being
discharged to make room for the injured.
A town of 3,600 persons, Avaj is close to the top of a high pass
through the rugged Nobaran Mountains on the main road between Qazvin and
Hamedan to the southwest. Reuters
