TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A severe earthquake hit the historic city of Bam in southeast Iran on Friday, and the regional governor told state media that many people were killed or buried.
Iranian television said the magnitude 6.3 quake leveled about 60 percent of the houses in Bam, 630 miles southeast of the capital, killing many people as they slept. Authorities put out a call for blood donations.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.7, capable of causing severe damage, and hit at 5:27 a.m. local time.
"Many people have died," Kerman province Gov. Mohammad Ali Karimi told state media. "Many people are buried under the rubble."
Bam is an ancient city known for its giant medieval citadel and other adobe buildings, some that date back 2,000 years.
State media reported damage in three villages around Bam and said telephone links with the city were severed. Authorities were in contact with the Bam area through radio and satellite phone links.
Authorities have sent numerous rescue workers with helicopters to the area, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
"We are doing everything we can to rescue the injured and unearth the dead," television quoted Karimi as saying.
There were several aftershocks, one of magnitude 5.3, IRNA quoted the geophysics institute of Tehran University as saying.
Earthquakes in the last 25 years have caused thousands of deaths in Iran, which sits on several fault lines. A magnitude 7.7 temblor killed 25,000 in 1978, and a magnitude 6 quake in June, 2002 killed 500 people.
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Iranian television said the magnitude 6.3 quake leveled about 60 percent of the houses in Bam, 630 miles southeast of the capital, killing many people as they slept. Authorities put out a call for blood donations.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.7, capable of causing severe damage, and hit at 5:27 a.m. local time.
"Many people have died," Kerman province Gov. Mohammad Ali Karimi told state media. "Many people are buried under the rubble."
Bam is an ancient city known for its giant medieval citadel and other adobe buildings, some that date back 2,000 years.
State media reported damage in three villages around Bam and said telephone links with the city were severed. Authorities were in contact with the Bam area through radio and satellite phone links.
Authorities have sent numerous rescue workers with helicopters to the area, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
"We are doing everything we can to rescue the injured and unearth the dead," television quoted Karimi as saying.
There were several aftershocks, one of magnitude 5.3, IRNA quoted the geophysics institute of Tehran University as saying.
Earthquakes in the last 25 years have caused thousands of deaths in Iran, which sits on several fault lines. A magnitude 7.7 temblor killed 25,000 in 1978, and a magnitude 6 quake in June, 2002 killed 500 people.
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