Help arrives for Iran quake victims

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 yesterday on whether it would accept an American 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 of western Iran, where residents were sleeping outside in the chilly spring night, fearful of returning even to homes that survived the quakes.

Some 21,000 families were homeless in 330 villages that were damaged or flatted by the series of quakes, said the provincial head of the Unexpected Disaster Committee, Ali Barani, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.

But Iranian authorities signalled that they only needed limited outside help - in contrast to a more devastating 2003 earthquake that hit the south-eastern city of Bam, killing 26,000 people. After that disaster, Iran accepted considerable international aid, including from the United States.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mojtaba Mirabdollahi told The Associated Press late yesterday 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 for officials to quickly get aid to the damaged communities near the quakes’ epicentres, 210 miles (340 kilometres) 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.

An Illushin-76 Russian plane carrying 4,000 blankets, 100 large tents and a number of electric heaters – a total of 29 tons of equipment – has left Russia for Iran, though Moscow scrapped plans to send rescuers and medical workers after Tehran said they were not needed, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Italy also sent a plane carrying food, blankets and other humanitarian aid Saturday, IRNA said.

But Mirabdollahi and other officials would not comment on the American offer, and there was no official announcement by the Iranian government whether the US aid had been rejected or accepted.

US President George 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 gesture came despite increasing animosity between Washington and Tehran. The US has led the fight at the UN Security Council to bring sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, saying Tehran intends to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying it aims only to generate electricity.

With its lack of response to the offer, Iran appeared to be keeping Washington at arm’s length, even after its hard-line clerical leadership agreed to hold direct talks with the US over the conflict in neighbouring Iraq.