Relief efforts under way in quake-hit Kerman

Efforts to provide assistance to quake-hit villages in Iran's southeastern Kerman province are now under way, according to officials. "We dispatched three cargo aircraft to the region with food and [other]relief items," Mehrdad Eshragi, deputy director-general of the international affairs department at the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), told IRIN from the capital, Tehran, on Wednesday. "The immediate needs of the survivors are being met and everything is pretty much under control by the IRCS, which is the lead agency for relief work," Eshragi said. His assessment is similar to what international aid workers on the ground reported. "Teams are coming in and I've seen tents being brought in as well as blankets, stoves, food and mineral water, and there is also a water truck. A health post has been set up and IRCS workers are on the ground leading the rescue and relief operations," Steven Lauwerier, an emergency coordinator with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Iran, told IRIN from the village of Houtkan, one of the worst hit communities. Around 50 relief and rescue teams were dispatched to the affected area to support the ongoing operations which include search-and-rescue, emergency medical treatment, medical evacuation, distribution of relief items and psychosocial support to survivors, the IRCS said in a statement on Wednesday. The IRCS has sent food rations for the affected population, and distributed 6,000 tents and 16,000 blankets to survivors. A strong quake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck the southeast province early on Tuesday morning. The epicentre was in the Kharnook area in the vicinity of Zarand city, 70 km east of Kerman, the provincial capital, and approximately 700 km southeast of Tehran. As of Wednesday, according to the IRCS, the death toll was estimated at 450, with almost 1,000 injured. Some 44 villages in the area, comprising some 30,000 people or roughly 7,000 families, were affected. Following the quake, there were 19 aftershocks ranging from 3.8 to 4.6 degrees on the Richter scale. But the number of deaths could rise, Lauwerier warned. "It is assumed that the figure will go up during the day. The major search-and-rescue operations in Houtkan could only start today because the roads were just opened yesterday evening," he explained, adding that Houtkan's population was about 1,200. In about 10 villages the damage varied between 30 to 90 percent. Four villages were almost completely destroyed, the UNICEF official added, noting that in the other settlement damage was less - between five and 45 percent. Tehran has not appealed to the international community for assistance as the destructive effect of Tuesday's quake was far less compared to the one that levelled the historic city of Bam in the same province in December 2003, killing more than 30,000 people and injuring many more. "There is no appeal but if there is any kind of voluntary assistance we welcome that," Eshragi said. Due to its geographical position, Iran is prone to earthquakes and experiences hundreds of small tremors each year. More than 150,000 people were killed by earthquakes in Iran during the 20th century.