Over 3,000 Homes Given To People In NW Quake-stricken Areas

Tehran, Nov 1, IRNA – Over 3,000 newly made homes were delivered to families in the quake-stricken areas of the East Azarbijan province in northwest of Iran on Thursday in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The President is on a day-long visit to the province to tour the quake-stricken areas in Varzaqan, Ahar and Heris districts which were hit on August 11 by two devastating earthquakes measured 6.4 and 6.3. The earthquakes left thousands of people homeless in rural areas. Official figures put the number of the dead at 306 and the injured at over 2,000. Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating./end