Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 22, 1990 TAG: 9006220255
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NICOSIA, CYPRUS LENGTH: Long
The quake shortly after midnight demolished scores of villages and towns and buried thousands of people in their homes. The Iranian mission to the United Nations, which released the casualty toll, said it would likely rise as rescuers reached more remote areas.
The earthquake was at least as bad as the quake registering 7.7 on the Richter scale that struck Iran on Sept. 16, 1978, killing 25,000 people. On Dec. 7, 1988, roughly the same number of people died in a quake in nearby Soviet Armenia that registered 6.9 on the Richter scale of ground motion.
Thursday's temblor measured 7.3 on the Richter scale, the Geophysics Center at Tehran University said. The U.S. Geological Survey, however, measured it at 7.7.
At least a dozen aftershocks shook the region within two hours after the quake. The earthquake struck at 12:30 a.m. and was centered 125 miles northwest of Tehran, near the Caspian Sea, the official news agency IRNA reported.
It shook buildings and shattered windows in Tehran, but apparently caused no deaths in the capital. In the neighboring Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, the temblor slightly damaged some older buildings in Baku but caused no casualties, the Soviet news agency Tass said.
The Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations, Kamal Kharrazi, told Cable News Network that Iran badly needs medical equipment, blood, blankets and medicine. "I understand that international organizations are trying their best to bring some of this equipment and medicine."
Communications were difficult between Iran and the outside world, and Iranian authorities did not immediately allow foreign-based reporters to enter Iran to cover the disaster.
Scenes shown on state television and monitored in Cyprus showed young men frantically clawing at debris from flattened concrete buildings in Rasht, 175 miles northwest of Tehran with a population of 189,000.
Occasionally, they carried away someone on a stretcher. Bulldozers and cranes lifted away larger pieces of debris.
A statement by the Iranian Cabinet earlier Thursday described the quake as a "sad, painful and horrible tragedy."
The announcement carried by the Islamic Republic News Agency placed all government organizations "on full alert," and ordered an air bridge set up between Tehran and the stricken areas to evacuate survivors.
Landslides blocked rescuers on the ground, and bad weather hindered helicopters trying to airlift supplies and victims, IRNA said.
Many people remained buried in the debris, it said, and several hundred Revolutionary Guards were flown from Tehran after nightfall to join rescue teams.
Iran's spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei, called the disaster a "divine test" and urged the bereaved residents of the stricken provinces "to pass this test with pride through patience and cooperation."
More than half those killed and injured Thursday were in Zanjan province. The second-hardest hit was Gilan province, IRNA said in dispatches monitored in Cyprus.
The victims included at least 1,000 people killed in one village in the province of Zanjan, Ab-Dar, the news agency said. Also killed were 768 people in Qazvin just 80 miles northwest of Tehran.
In Zanjan alone, 73 villages and towns were affected, IRNA said. Many were leveled.
IRNA said the quake triggered landslides that blocked main roads.
Dozens of rescue vehicles, including trucks carrying food supplies and ambulances, were stuck on the roads, it said.
Telephone lines and electricity and water supplies were cut in Zanjan and Gilan, which have a combined population of 2.7 million. Communications with Tehran from the outside world also were difficult.
In Ab-Dar, the television showed mountains of rubble, which a speaker said were all that was left of apartment buildings. They appeared to have been shaken off their foundations, collapsing like a deck of cards.
The camera zoomed in on a stuffed rabbit and a shoe lying in a street carpeted with dust.
Women in black chadors flanked by weeping children camped out in public squares, afraid to return to their homes in case of aftershocks.
A dam south of Rasht burst, flooding the surrounding area, IRNA said.
Hospitals appealed for blood donations and helicopters and transport planes delivered thousands of tents and blankets. They also carried rice, tea, sugar, cheeses and canned food to the area, IRNA said.
Three U.S.-made C-130 transport planes shuttled between Tehran and Rasht to carry the injured to hospitals in the capital, it said. State-run Iran Air ordered special flights to carry the injured.
Khamenei and President Hashemi Rafsanjani flew to the area to supervise relief operations. Rafsanjani declared three days of mourning.
The United States offered humanitarian assistance to Iran and President Bush sent a message of condolence to Rafsanjani. The message was delivered to Iran by another, unidentified country because the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Tehran.
by CNB