Updated on
Summary Casualty figures are expected to rise, Iranian officials said.
Two powerful earthquakes killed250 people and injured around 2,000 in northwest Iran whererescue workers frantically combed the rubble of dozens ofvillages throughout the night and into Sunday as medical staffdesperately tried to save lives.Thousands huddled in makeshift camps or slept in the streetsafter Saturdays quakes in fear of more aftershocks, 40 of whichhave already struck.Casualty figures are expected to rise, Iranian officialssaid, as some of the injured were in critical condition whileothers were still trapped under the rubble in inaccessibleplaces and rescue efforts were hampered by the darkness.Six villages were destroyed and about 60 sustained more than50 percent damage, Iranian media reported.Photographs posted on Iranian news websites showed numerousbodies, including children, lying on the floor of a white-tiledmorgue in the town of Ahar and medical staff treating theinjured in the open air as dusk fell.Other images showed massive destruction wrought by theearthquakes and rescue workers digging people out of the rubble,some alive, many dead.Iran is situated on major fault lines and has sufferedseveral devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6magnitude quake in 2003 that reduced the historic southeasterncity of Bam to dust and killed more than 25,000 people.The U.S. Geological Survey measured Saturdays first quakeat 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 60 km (37 miles) northeastof the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9 km (6.2 miles). A secondquake measuring 6.3 struck 49 km (30 miles) northeast of Tabriz11 minutes later at a similar depth.Officials said 220 people had been killed and about 1,500injured, Irans state news agency, IRNA, reported.The second quake struck near the town of Varzaghan. Thequake was so intense that people poured into the streets throughfear, said the news agency Fars.
