Bushehr Quake Death Toll Rises to 37, Iran Wraps up Rescue Operations
Local Editor
The death toll of earth quake that hit Iranian port city of Bushehr reached 37, with rescuers wrapped up operations.
“With the rescue operation being wrapped up no one is left under the rubble, “the Fars news agency quoted the head of Iran’s Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar days, as saying.
According to latest media reports, 37 people were killed and 850 others injured in the 6.1 magnitude quake that struck on Tuesday.
At least 20 people were rescued from the rubble, according to Fars, which added that some 700 homes had been destroyed.
Mozafar said efforts were now focused on relief operations and around 1,000 tents had been set up in quake-hit areas.
Fars said blankets and food have also been sent to stricken areas.
Iran said it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that there has been no damage to the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, nearly 90 kilometers northwest of quake’s epicenter, and no radioactive release.
Iran’s atomic chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said that the power plant was not operational when the quake struck as it was “under maintenance”, Iranian media reported.
The facility’s chief engineer, Mahmoud Jafari, told Arabic-language Al-Alam television that “no operational or security protocols were breached” by the quake.
The nuclear power plant in Bushehr, a long-delayed project finished by Russia, is yet to become fully operational.
Tuesday’s quake coincided with Iran unveiling a uranium production facility and two extraction mines in center of the country.
Source: AFP
