BRUJERD, April 1: Iranian authorities were battling on Saturday to provide shelter and aid for thousands of people left homeless by a magnitude six earthquake in the west of the country that killed 70 people.

Amid fears of aftershocks, survivors of Friday’s pre-dawn earthquake in the west of Lorestan province — which also injured 1,265 — spent the night in the cold open air as they awaited the distribution of relief items.

“The search and rescue operation is over, and we have started to house the survivors in the tents. Some 70 per cent of the families have got their tents, and the rest will receive theirs by nightfall,” Iranian deputy interior minister Mohammad Baqir Zolqadr told state television.

Most of the parks in Brujerd and Khoramabad, the provincial capital, were packed with people who had dragged blankets and other necessities with them in the expectation of enduring more aftershocks.

The Iranian Red Crescent announced that it had handed out 10,000 tents and another 15,000 are needed which will delivered by nightfall.

Local women were seen sitting in a circle, crying as they wailed for the loss of their loved ones, covering their heads with mud, and scratching their nails into their tear-stained faces.

Such mourning ceremonies are unique to the area.

“I wish I were killed with my sheep and cows,” shouted the wailing Hossein Mousivand, 60, from a village close to the city of Burjerd.

According to local officials, the areas hit most by the quakes were villages between Brujerd and Doroud, which have a population of around 200,000 people. About 330 villages suffered 40 to 100 per cent damage, according to officials.

“I lost all my livelihood, I had 140 sheep and cows, now I am left with a destroyed farm and only 50 animals,” Mr Mousivand said.—AFP