Rescuers Stopped Looking For Survivors

Thousands left homeless after dual quakes 

At least 227 dead and more than 2,000 wounded after twin earthquakes strike near northwestern city of Tabriz.




Rescue teams have stopped looking for survivors from two powerful earthquakes near northwestern city of Tabriz, state television said, adding all those trapped under the rubble had been located and saved.

At least 227 people have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in the massive earthquakes that hit the towns of Ahar and Varzaghan on Saturday. Iran's Fars News Agency reports the number of dead to be 300.

"There are no people left to recover from under the rubble in any village, and all necessary aid is currently being distributed," an interior ministry official in charge of disaster management, Hossein Ghadami, told state television on Sunday.

Efforts are on to provide water and shelter to the affected people, as thousands of people huddled in makeshift camps or slept in streets after Saturday's quakes in fear of more aftershocks.

Officials said on Sunday that emergency shelters were distributed on Sunday and a field hospital was set up in Varzaghan, one of the hardest hit towns 60km from Tabriz, to treat the injured.

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Series of major earthquakes in northwestern Iran reportedly leaves dozens dead

This magnitude 6.4 earthquake was the first of three to strike northeastern Iran on Saturday. (USGS)

DEVELOPING: Northwestern Iran was struck Saturday by a series of major earthquakes, the strongest registering magnitude 6.4, as local media reported dozens of people dead and hundreds hurt.

An official said in local media reports cited by Reuters that 40 to 50 people were killed and 400 hurt, but those numbers couldn't be independently confirmed.

The U.S. Geological Survey had no immediate word on fatalities and damage, but logged the magnitude 6.4 quake and a 6.3 quake midday, followed hours later by a magnitude 5.0 quake