Number of Injured People in Saturday Quake Rises to 4,500

The twin quakes which struck parts of Northwestern Iran on Saturday have claimed the lives of 306 people and injured more than 4,500 others, medical officials announced Monday.

“Evacuation and transferring the injured people in East Azarbaijan (province) ended in just 24 hours,” Head of the State Emergency Center Gholam Reza Masoumi told FNA on Monday.

“From the overall 4,500 people injured in the incident, 1200 have been transferred to hospitals, mostly in Tabriz,” he said, and added, “The other 3,300 injured people have been registered as outpatients.”

Iran’s Health Minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi told the parliament earlier today that the two quakes have killed 306 people.

“The total number of those killed in the recent quakes in the East Azerbaijan province stood at 306,” Dastjerdi told the Iranian lawmakers in an open session of the parliament here in Tehran on Monday.

She further added that 116 aftershocks have been registered in the area in the last few days.

An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale jolted Ahar in East Azerbaijan province at 16:00 hours local time (1130GMT) Saturday. The epicenter of the quake was located in an area 46.8 degrees in longitude and 38.4 degrees in latitude.

Almost an hour later another quake with magnitude 6 on the Richter scale jolted Varzaqan at 17:04 hours local time (1234GMT) in the same province. The epicenter of the quake was located in an area 46.7 degrees in longitude and 38.4 degrees in latitude.