Tehran, IR -
Authorities ceased rescue operations on Sunday following two major earthquakes in Iran on Saturday.
The quakes struck near Tabriz, the country's fourth-largest city, in the northwest province of East Azarbaijan.
The first earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.4, hit at 4:53 p.m. local Iranian time on Saturday, 37 miles northeast of Tabriz.
The area northeast of Tabriz was struck with a second quake, just eleven minutes later, with a magnitude of 6.3.
A series of aftershocks followed, including one measuring 4.4 in magnitude.
The Fars News Agency in Iran reported that at least 250 people died and that another 1800 were injured. The Iranian state-run Press TV reported that more than 2000 people were injured.
Deputy Interior Minister Hassan Qaddami told the Fars Agency that a total of 110 villages were damaged.
The cities of Ahar and Varzagan are the hardest hit.
"All those under debris have been rescued and the quake-stricken people are now being provided with their basic needs," said Qaddami.
Thousands of tents were set up throughout the stricken region, and tens of thousands of cans of food were distributed.
The quakes damaged historic monuments, including the roof of Shahabeddin Ahari's tomb and the Qasem Khan Ahari house.
Iran sits on major fault lines, the result of the slow collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates.
30,000 people died in an earthquake in Bam in southeastern Kerman province in 2003. 50,000 were killed in a quake near the Caspian Sea in 1990.
[Sources: CNN, Associated Press]
A village in the province of East Azarbaijan, photo courtesy CNN
