Kermanshah (Iran), Nov 14 (AFP) Thousands of homelessIranians sought shelter from bitter cold today as PresidentHassan Rouhani promised swift help after a major earthquakethat killed more than 400 people.
The country marked a day of mourning for those killed inthe 7.3-magnitude quake that struck a mountainous regionspanning the Iran-Iraq border late on Sunday.
Thousands of homes were destroyed in the quake, whichrocked a region spanning Iran's western province of Kermanshahand neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan.
Today, residents who had fled their homes awoke from asecond night in the cold outdoors as authorities struggled toget aid into the quake zone.
Rouhani visited the city of Kermanshah and promised thegovernment would move swiftly to help those left homeless bythe disaster.
"I want to assure those who are suffering that thegovernment has begun to act with all means at its disposal andis scrambling to resolve this problem as quickly as possible,"he said.
Rouhani said all aid would be channelled through theHousing Foundation, one of the charitable trusts set up afterthe Islamic revolution of 1979 that are major players in theIranian economy.
The head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Major GeneralMohammad Ali Jafari, said the immediate need was for tents,water and food.
"Newly constructed buildings... held up well, but the oldhouses built with earth were totally destroyed," he told statetelevision as he visited the affected region.
Around 12,000 Iranian homes were destroyed and another15,000 damaged in the quake, according to official estimates.
Seven towns and nearly 2,000 villages were damaged,authorities said, and several villages were completely wipedfrom the map.
The toll in Iran stood at 430 dead and 7,460 injured,while across the border in more sparsely populated areas ofIraq, the health ministry said eight people had died andseveral hundred were injured. Iraq's Red Crescent put the tollat nine dead.
Today, Iran marked a day of mourning, with a black banneradorning the corner of images of the disaster broadcast bystate television to the tune of "Sad Lisa" by British singerYusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens.
The headline of a state newspaper read "Iran cries withKermanshah", referring to the Kurdish-majority province.
"Search operations are reaching their end, with teamsconstantly monitoring the situation to know if there are stillpeople to extract from the rubble," Behnam Saidi, thespokesman for a crisis unit set up to handle the response tothe quake, told state television.
But more aid was still needed.
"The most urgent need is to provide solutions forheating, housing and food," Pir Hossein Koolivand, the head ofnational rescue services, told state television.
"Today, we sent our ambulances to villages in areasaffected by the quake to help people rescued yesterday,including changing their bandages," he said.
He added that "psychological support teams" had been sentto these areas.
The authorities said water and electricity had returnedto most affected regions.
Rouhani today visited the town of Sar-e Pol-e Zahab,worst hit by the quake.
At least 280 people were killed in the town, home to some85,000 people, where crumpled vehicles lay under the rubble offlattened buildings on the streets.
Yesterday, Iranian officials said they were setting uprelief camps for the displaced and that 22,000 tents, 52,000blankets and tonnes of food and water had been distributed.
The official IRNA news agency said 30 Red Crescent teamshad been sent to the area.
Hundreds of ambulances and dozens of army helicopterswere reported to have joined the rescue effort after supremeleader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the government and armedforces to mobilise "all their means".
By late yesterday, officials said all the roads inKermanshah province had been reopened.
Sunday's quake struck along a 1,500-km fault line betweenthe Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which extendsthrough western Iran and northeastern Iraq.
The area sees frequent seismic activity.
In 1990, a 7.4-magnitude quake in northern Iran killed40,000 people, injured 300,000 and left half a millionhomeless, reducing dozens of towns and nearly 2,000 villagesto rubble.
Thirteen years later, a catastrophic quake flattenedswathes of the ancient southeastern Iranian city of Bam,killing at least 31,000.
Iran has experienced at least two major quake disasterssince -- one in 2005 that killed more than 600 people andanother in 2012 that left some 300 dead. (AFP)KIS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.