Iran raises earthquake death toll to over 300

Interior minister announces end of search and rescue operations in northwest region

By AP and ToI Staff 13 August 2012, 10:45 am
An Iranian woman and a man grieve after their loved ones were killed during Saturday's earthquake at the village of Bajebaj near the city of Varzaqan in northwestern Iran, on Sunday. (photo credit: AP/ISNA, Arash Khamoushi)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has raised the death toll from Saturday’s twin earthquakes to 306, a day after rescuers called off the search for survivors.

Heath Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi told a session of parliament Monday that the number jumped by about 50 after victims expired in the hospital. More than 3,000 people were injured in the earthquakes.

Interior Minister Moustafa Mohammed-Najjar told state television on Sunday that “search and rescue operations have ended and we are now working to ensure survivors’ needs are met in terms of shelter and food.”

Despite US economic sanctions against Iran due to its illegal nuclear program, White House press secretary Jay Carney offered Tehran assistance in dealing with the aftermath of the disaster.

Scores of aftershocks have coursed through Iran’s mountainous northwest since the 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude quakes hit the region, where some 300,000 people live near the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a 6.6 magnitude quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.

 

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