Italy and Russia sent planeloads of tents, blankets and other supplies to help 21,000 Iranian families left homeless by three strong earthquakes that hit in quick succession, killing 70 people.
But Iran's government remained silent on Saturday about whether it would accept a US offer of aid amid heightened tensions between the two nations over Iran's nuclear program.
Iranian authorities were rushing temporary shelter to thousands of victims in towns and villages in western Iran, where residents were sleeping outside, fearful of returning to homes that survived the quakes.
PHOTO: AFP
Some 21,000 families were homeless in 330 villages that were damaged or flattened by the series of quakes, said the provincial head of the Unexpected Disaster Committee, Ali Barani, quoted by the state news agency Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
But Iranian authorities signaled that they only needed limited outside help -- in contrast to a more devastating 2003 earthquake that hit the southeastern city of Bam, killing 26,000 people. After that disaster, Iran accepted considerable international aid, including from the US.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mojtaba Mirabdollahi said late on Saturday that "all the survivors have received adequate protection and operations providing temporary accommodation is now over."
The quake did not destroy roads, making it easier to get aid to the damaged communities near the quakes' epicenters, 340km southwest of Tehran, Mirabdollahi said.
The immediate challenge now for the authorities was to continue providing sufficient food and drinking water to the survivors.
Still, Iran appeared to have accepted help from its close ally, Russia, and Italy.
A Russian plane carrying 4,000 blankets, 100 large tents and a number of electric heaters has left Russia for Iran, though Moscow scrapped plans to send rescuers and medical workers after Tehran said they were not needed, IRNA reported.
Italy also sent a plane carrying food, blankets and other humanitarian aid on Saturday, IRNA said.
But Mirabdollahi and other officials would not comment on the US offer, and there was no official announcement by the Iranian government whether the US aid had been rejected or accepted.
US President George W. Bush made the offer on Friday, saying "we, obviously, have our differences with the Iranian government, but we do care about the suffering of Iranian people."
The offer included temporary housing for 100,000 people, blankets, plastic sheeting, water and US$150,000 in cash assistance, available within 48 hours.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns telephoned Iran's ambassador to the UN, who promised a reply after conferring with his government, the US State Department said.
In the earthquake-hit zone around Boroujerd and Doroud, two industrial cities in western Iran, residents began moving into tents and other temporary shelter provided by the government. In the village of Kalegh Ali, mourners buried the dead while survivors dug through the ruins of their homes.
The first quake struck on Thursday night, with a magnitude of 4.7. Police in Boroujerd and Doroud toured the streets with loudspeakers urging people to leave their homes because of the risk of aftershocks.
In the early hours of Friday, two bigger quakes shook the region with magnitudes of 5.1 and 6.1, along with at least a dozen aftershocks.
The warnings are thought to have contributed to a lower death toll than is usual in Iran for quakes of this magnitude.
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