In a televised interview on Monday, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said the
IRGC has mobilized efforts to rescue people in rural areas while the Army units
have focused their relief operation on Sarpol-e-Zahab, a city in the western
province of Kermanshah hit hardest by the Sunday night quake.
So far, 395 Iranian people have been pronounced dead and more than 6,000 others
injured in the quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, whose epicenter was
near Halabjah, southeast of Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah.
The IRGC chief has predicted that rescue operations in the quake-hit areas would
finish by the end of Monday.
A deputy governor of Kermanshah said helicopters of the Army Ground Force
Airborne Unit have been transferring those injured in the disaster, saying three
planes operated by the IRGC also carry the wounded to capital Tehran.
More than 130 aftershocks, some even measuring greater than 5 on the Richter
scale, have rumbled through western Iran since last night.
In a message on Monday morning, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed
Ali Khamenei ordered all Iranian officials to rush to help the large number of
people affected by the earthquake, and particularly rescue those trapped under
rubble in the very first hours after the disaster.