Deadly quake kills at least 20 in north

At least 20 people have been killed in a powerful earthquake in northern Iran which measured 6.2 on the Richter scale on Friday. The quake shook the Alborz mountain range damaging towns, villages and roads and was felt as far away as Isafahan in central Iran. State television said that 16 people were killed and 70 injured on the Chalus Road that connects the Caspian coast with Tehran. Cars were crushed when the earthquake dislodged rocks and boulders on the winding mountainous road, which was packed with Tehranis returning to the capital from weekend trips. Falling debris blocked the road causing many motorists to spend a cold night in their cars waiting for the road to be cleared. Friday's earthquake also rocked Tehran where some windows shattered, sending shocked residents into the streets. Massoud Emami, the governor of the western province of Qazvin said that about 80 villages in the province had suffered damage of 20 to 100 percent and he appealed for tents and food. The Iranian Red Crescent have despatched several hundred volunteers to the stricken areas but blocked roads were hampering rescue work. The quake's epicenter was about 100 km (60 miles) north of Tehran, an area which is riddled with seismological fault lines, causing structural damage in towns and villages in the Mazandaran province - a lush, forested area - and many residents are reported to have spend Friday night sleeping outside their houses for fear of another quake. The earthquake comes five months after over 20,000 people were killed in Bam in south Iran when a quake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale razed the city and the ancient citadel. Northern Iran is no stranger to earthquakes - on June 21 1990, about 35,000 people were killed and 100,000 injured when an earthquake, measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, devastated the Caspian province of Gilan.