TEHRAN: Rescuers Wednesday wound up operations after pulling 20 people from the rubble of an earthquake that struck near the port city of Bushehr, killing 37 people but sparing Iran's sole nuclear power plant.
"With the rescue operation being wrapped up no one is left under the rubble," the Fars news agency quoted the head of Iran's Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, as saying.
According to latest media reports, 37 people were killed and 850 others injured in the 6.1 magnitude quake that struck on Tuesday.
At least 20 people were rescued from the rubble, according to Fars, which added that some 700 homes had been destroyed.
Mozafar said efforts were now focused on relief operations and around 1,000 tents had been set up in quake-hit areas.
Fars said blankets and food have also been sent to stricken areas.
Iran said it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that there has been no damage to the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, nearly 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of quake's epicenter, and no radioactive release.
Iran's atomic chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said that the power plant was not operational when the quake struck as it was " under maintenance", Iranian media reported. (AFP)
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