The two strong quakes struck towns and villages in northwest Iran in quick succession on Saturday, killing at least 180 people and injuring more than 1,000, according to a preliminary toll by officials.
Khalil Sa'ie, a provincial official, said 250 people had been killed and some 1,300 injured.
Gholamreza Masoumi, the head of Iran's emergency services, said those hurt were being taken to hospitals in Tabriz and Ardebil, the two biggest nearby major cities, both of which escaped relatively unscathed by the quakes.
The quakes measured 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale, according to Tehran University's Seismological Centre, but the US Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively. » | Sunday, August 12, 2012
