Hundreds killed in Iran earthquake

A powerful earthquake shook central Iran today, destroying villages, killing at least 270 people and injuring more than 950, state-run television reported.

A powerful earthquake shook central Iran today, destroying villages, killing at least 270 people and injuring more than 950, state-run television reported.

Residents frantically dug through collapsed mud-brick homes looking for loved ones as the toll rose.

"The death toll has reached 270," Kerman provincial governor Mohammad Ali Karimi was quoted by the television as saying. Karimi also revised downward from more than 1,000 the number of injured, saying without explanation the figure was more than 950.

Another provincial official told The Associated Press it could reach 350.

Live pictures on Iranian television showed ambulances carrying the dead and injured and survivors sitting next to the dead, slapping their own faces and heads in grief. Victims wrapped in bloodied bandages or with broken legs and hands were shown in a local hospital.

Survivors pleaded for help finding the buried: "What a catastrophe. Please help us," one said.

The epicentre of the 6.4-magnitude quake, which struck at 5:55am, was on the outskirts of Zarand, according to the seismological unit of Tehran University's Geophysics Institute.

Zarand, is a small, central Iranian town of about 15,000 people 35 miles northwest of Kerman, the provincial capital. The mountainous area is in the same province but northwest of Bam, where a quake killed 26,000 people in 2003 and flattened the city.

Sarbagh, a village near Zarand, was one of the villages affected by the quake. Close to 80 percent of buildings in Sarbagh were destroyed by the quake.

Mohammad Ali Karimi was quoted as saying that "several villages have been destroyed" by the earthquake. Rain was hampering rescue efforts.

Television footage showed a village almost flattened with few mud-brick walls still standing. Residents could be seen digging frantically amid collapsed slabs of concrete and piles of dirt in a bid to find people buried under the rubble. But cement buildings didn't appear to sustain heavy damage.

"All hospitals in Zarand are filled to capacity with the injured. Hospitals in the town cannot receive any more of the injured," the broadcast said, showing images of elderly women and men lying on beds with various injuries.

The villages of Hotkan, Khanook, Motaharabad and Islamabad were the worst hit villages, it said.

Mostafa Soltani, a spokesman at Kerman Governor General Office, said officials expect the final death toll could reach 350.

Soltani said today's quake was not a replay of the devastating 2003 earthquake because the epicentre was near lightly populated, remote villages.

State-run television quoted the governor of Zarand, identified only as Rashidi, as saying that power in the region has been disrupted. He said supplies were needed, especially medicine, syringes and tents.

Soltani said the experience of the Bam quake helped local authorities cope with the situation.

"The earthquake in 2003 gave us a very good experience of how to deal with such a natural disaster. Despite the rain, relief operations are going smoothly. Relief teams have reached the villages and are helping the survivors," he said.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences at least one slight earthquake every day on average.