TEHRAN: Iran stepped up rescue efforts yesterday for survivors of a powerful earthquake that killed 37 people and damaged dozens of villages but left its sole nuclear power station unscathed.
More than 90 villages in the southern province of Bushehr were hit hard by Tuesday鈥檚 quake, with two completely destroyed, the head of Iran鈥檚 Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, told state television.
More than 850 people were injured and some 800 houses razed to the ground.
Mozafar said the priority was to get aid to stricken villages after the search for survivors was wrapped up yesterday morning.
Ali Alipour, who owns a cultural center in the village of Khormoj, some 35 kilometers (20 miles) from the quake鈥檚 epicenter, said he had run for cover when it hit and 鈥渢he sound of death filled the fields.鈥�
鈥淲ater and food are being distributed among survivors,鈥� Alipour told AFP by telephone.
Authorities said the relief operation got underway a few hours after the 6.1-magnitude quake struck at 4:22 p.m. on Tuesday.
Some 2,100 tents have been set up in the quake zone, emergency officials said.
The epicenter was barely 90 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of the port city of Bushehr, home to Iran鈥檚 only nuclear power plant.
Iran said it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that there had been no damage to the plant.
The UN watchdog said its incident and emergency center was 鈥渘ot currently seeking additional information from Iran鈥� following analysis of the 鈥渆arthquake鈥檚 magnitude and other seismic parameters, as well as its location.鈥�
Iran鈥檚 atomic energy chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said the plant was not operational when the quake struck as it was 鈥渦nder maintenance,鈥� Iranian media reported.
The Russian-built plant was designed to withstand an earthquake of a magnitude greater than 8, Abbasi Davani added.
The plant鈥檚 chief engineer, Mahmoud Jafari, said 鈥渘o operational or security protocols were breached.鈥�
First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar traveled to the quake zone to check on relief operations, state television reported.
A resident, who asked not to be identified, said power and water supplies were 鈥済radually being restored.鈥�
The US Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity worldwide, ranked the quake at a more powerful 6.3 magnitude.
Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.