UN ready to help Iran after earthquake

Young journalists club

News ID: 15707
Iran » Iran
Publish Date: 14:17 - 13 November 2017
TEHRAN, November 13 - UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Iran Gary Lewis said the UN is ready to help Iran after the deadly earthquake which has claimed lives of 341 people so far.

UN ready to help Iran after earthquakeTEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - He extended condolences to Iranian nation and government over the deadly earthquake in western Iran.

“The UN is ready to help”, he wrote in his official tweeter account.

He also said that he has held a session with Iranian officials to investigate the current situation in Iraq-Iran border.

A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit the border region between Iran and Iraq Sunday night, killing at least 350 people, almost all of them in Iran.

The epicenter of the quake, which occurred at around 09:18 pm local time on Sunday (0010 GMT on Monday), was 32 kilometers south of the Iraqi city of Halabja, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and just across the border from Iran, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

But the highest casualties occurred in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, in Iran’s Kermanshah Province.

According to the National Disaster Management Organization of Iran, 341 people were confirmed dead as of Monday noon. Over 5,340 others were also injured.

The organization said power cuts have been reported in Kermanshah Province. A number of villages in western Iran have also seen destruction of varying degrees, Presstv reported.

Soon after the quake occurred, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei issued a message calling on all Iranian officials and institutions to “rush to the aid of those affected in these early hours [after the incident].”

The Leader said the country’s entire range of capabilities had to be used swiftly to prevent a further rise in the death toll.

Ayatollah Khamenei called on Iran’s Armed Forces to help with removing the rubble and transferring the injured to medical centers.

Separately, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke on the phone with Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli on Sunday night, who briefed the president on the latest updates. President Rouhani then issued the necessary directives to facilitate and accelerate rescue operations.

Three days of mourning have been announced in Kermanshah.

The earthquake was felt in cities in several other Iranian provinces, including as far away as in the capital, Tehran.

The quake also shook the Iranian provinces of Kordestan, Ilam, Khuzestan, Hamedan, West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, Lorestan, Qazvin, Zanjan, and Qom.

The quake was also felt in other regional countries, including Turkey, Kuwait, Armenia, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain.

But the casualties and damage were limited to Iran and Iraq.

President Rouhani has been scheduled to travel to Kermanshah Province on Tuesday to oversee the rescue work.

Rahmani-Fazli, the Iranian interior minister, and Health Minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi have already flown to Kermanshah to personally supervise the rescue operations.

Commander of Iran’s Army Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi has also arrived in Sarpol-e Zahab, one of the worst-affected areas, to oversee Army rescue operations in the region.

The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, has also traveled there.

So has Iran’s Police chief, Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari.

First responders have been using sniffer dogs to look for potential survivors under the rubble.

Hospitals in Tehran have been put on alert to treat those of the wounded who are transferred to the capital. At least 43 ambulances, four ambulance buses, and 130 emergency technicians have been stationed in the Mehrabad Airport in Tehran for a quick transfer of the victims to hospitals.

At least 100 medics have also been dispatched to the affected areas. The Iranian Air Force, too, has deployed helicopters to accelerate the transfer of the wounded.

Iranian people have been flocking to the headquarters of the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization to donate blood to the victims of the earthquake.

Source: Presstv

 

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