[guide.chat] iran earth quake

From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:59:00 +0100
TEHRAN ? Iranian relief workers saved more than 200 people from the rubble of 
dozens of villages destroyed when two powerful earthquakes struck Saturday in a 
wide area north of the city of Tabriz, an Iranian official said Sunday.

The official, Hassan Ghadami, Iran?s deputy interior minister, said that ?all 
those under debris have been rescued and those affected are now being provided 
with their basic needs,? the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. The head 
of Iran?s Relief and Emergency Organization said that rescue operations were 
continuing.

Reza Sedighi, a relief official in the area, told Fars that at least 300 people 
were killed Saturday, and other officials reported more than 4,500 injured, 
some severely. Doctors on the scene predicted that more people would be found 
under destroyed houses, mosques and farms. In total, 133 villages were damaged. 
Shortages of water and food are being reported throughout the quake zone, a 
mountainous region near the border with Azerbaijan.

The quakes struck in quick succession, with the more powerful one measuring a 
magnitude of 6.4, the United States Geological Survey reported. Iranian news 
media said that the epicenters were near four smaller cities north of Tabriz: 
Ahar, Heris, Mehraban and Varzaqan.

The villages near Varzaqan were hit especially hard, with many mud brick houses 
collapsing and trapping those inside, many of them women and children, the 
region?s governor, Moharram Foroughi, said.

?Most of the dead are women and children, as the earthquake happened during the 
day, when many men were out working,? said Marjan Lagaei, an Iranian reporter 
who traveled to the area.

Helicopters had to suspend rescue operations during the night as Iran ? under 
international sanctions over its nuclear program ? is barred from purchasing 
night-vision materials, which could be used for military purposes as well as 
civilian missions.

Iran?s interior minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, visited parts of the 
disaster area by helicopter on Sunday morning, promising residents that their 
houses would soon be rebuilt. ?All destroyed places will be rebuilt as strong 
as possible and all shortages existing in the region will be dealt with 
quickly,? he said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

In nearby Tabriz, the center of Iran?s Turkish-speaking Azeri region and one of 
Iran?s largest cities, tens of thousands spent the night on the streets, 
fearing further earthquakes. ?Even old people here say they have never 
experienced such a powerful earthquake,? said Vahideh Porebadi, 40. Like all 
her neighbors, she spent the night sleeping in a city park. ?I was lucky as I 
slept on a bench,? she said.

Iran lies on several major fault lines, and experts have said that the 
possibility exists that Tehran, a city of 12 million, could be hit by an 
earthquake of magnitude 7 or higher.

In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck the southern city of Bam, killing 
about 25,000 people.

One Iranian seismologist, Bahram Akasheh, said that Saturday?s temblor was 
relatively mild, and attributed the loss of life to shoddy construction and 
poor oversight. ?Nowhere in the world would a magnitude 6 earthquake kill so 
many people. There shouldn?t have been more than 10 injured,? he told the 
semiofficial Iranian Labor News Agency on Sunday.

Mr. Akasheh, who has long predicted millions of deaths if an earthquake were to 
strike the capital, said Iran needed to prepare for even worse disasters in the 
future.

?Soon we will be hit by a 7 or higher quake,? he said. ?I am very worried.?


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Vanessa The Google Girl.
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[guide.chat] iran earth quake

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