Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990                   TAG: 9006210510
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NICOSIA, CYPRUS                                LENGTH: Medium

EARTHQUAKE KILLS 1,900, INJURES 5,000 IN IRAN

Many hundreds more were reported missing in the rubble of collapsed buildings and the death toll was expected to rise considerably.

The Geophysics Center at Tehran University said the quake measured 7.3 on the Richter scale of ground motion. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 7.7.

The Tehran center recorded 12 aftershocks after the early morning quake, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The quake struck at 12:30 a.m., when most people were either sleeping or watching World Cup soccer on television. IRNA quoted the Geophysics Center as saying it was centered 125 miles northwest of Tehran, near the Caspian Sea.

The quake also rattled the bordering Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, slightly damaging some old buildings in its capital of Baku but causing no casualties, the Soviet news agency Tass said.

The temblor killed at least 1,600 people and injured 3,600 in Iran's Zanjan province, and killed 300 and injured more than 1,000 in Gilan province, IRNA said in dispatches monitored in Cyprus.

The dead included at least 1,000 people killed in one large village in Zanjan province, Ab-Dar, the agency said. At least 88 people were killed in Qazvin just 80 miles northwest of Tehran.

IRNA reported "massive destruction." It said homes crumbled and landslides loosed by the shock were blocking main roads, hampering rescue efforts.

Rescue workers struggled to pull victims from wrecked structures.

The mountainous, largely agricultural provinces have a combined population of 2.7 million and the news agency said several villages near the 100,000-resident provincial capital of Zanjan were destroyed.

Tehran residents said the quake shattered windows and sent people fleeing into the streets. They reported no casualties or serious damage in the capital.

"It was like a rocking motion," said a longtime resident of Tehran, speaking by telephone on condition he not be identified further.

IRNA said the Interior Ministry had been asked for medical teams and heavy lifting machinery: "An extensive relief operation has been launched by the Red Crescent and local officials to pull victims out of the rubble."

President Hashemi Rafsanjani declared three days of mourning and ordered all state organs to be ready to aid in the relief efforts. Spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei flew to the area and called the quake a divine test.

"The bereaved and other people should pass this test with pride through their patience, endeavor, cooperation and assistance," he said in a radio dispatch monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp.

IRNA said an unspecified number of people were killed and injured in the Caspian port city of Rasht. It said houses collapsed in the Gilan province capital of 189,000 people, which is 175 miles northwest of Tehran.