Villages in northern Iran were struck Saturday by two earthquakes in close succession, leaving over 300 people dead and about 4,500 injured by collapsed buildings, rubble and debris. Iranian relief workers are pulling civilians out of fallen homes and buildings, and the regional governor reported that the majority of victims are women and children, as men were working outside the homes at the time of the quakes.
From the article:
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.
