IRAN - Massive quake kills dozens

TEHRAN, (AP):

A major earthquake flattened homes and offices on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border yesterday, rattling buildings as far away as New Delhi and Dubai and killing dozens of people, including 34 in one Pakistani town.

The massive quake was the second in a week to hit Iran in less than a week, but it was not immediately clear how many people the trembler killed in Iran.

Iranian state media said at least 46 people were killed, but later Iranian reports offered a far milder picture.

The discrepancies and apparent backtracking in the Iranian reports could not be immediately reconciled, but Iran has faced two large quakes in less than week and authorities could seek to downplay casualties.

Iran's state-run Press TV initially said at least 40 people were killed on the Iranian side, but later removed the figure from its website and news scroll. Other state-controlled outlets, including the official IRNA news agency, mentioned no deaths and only injuries, quoting a local official.

On the Pakistani side of the border, a Pakistani military official said 34 were killed and at least 80 people were injured in the earthquake. All the casualties happened in the Pakistani town of Mashkal, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military policy.

STRONGEST IN 50 YEARS

The website of Tehran Geophysics Center said the quake, measured at least magnitude 7.7, lasted 40 seconds and called it the strongest in more than 50 years in one of the world's most seismically active areas. Press TV called it "massive".

It also was the second deadly quake to hit Iran in less than a week after a magnitude 6.1 temblor struck near Bushehr, on Iran's Persian Gulf coast, killing at least 37 people and raising calls for greater international safety inspectors at Iran's lone nuclear reactor nearby.

A Pakistani police officer, Azmatullah Regi, said nearly three dozen homes and shops collapsed in one village in the Mashkel area, which was the hardest hit by the quake. Rescue workers pulled the bodies of a couple and their three children, aged 5 to 15, from the rubble of one house, he said.

The Pakistani army ordered paramilitary troops to assist with rescue operations and provide medical treatment. Additional troops are being moved to the area, and army helicopters were mobilised to carry medical staff, tents, medicine and other relief items.