IRCS ready to send relief teams to quake-hit Afghanistan, Pakistan

The president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) says the body is ready to immediately dispatch relief and medical teams to Afghanistan and Pakistan which have been affected by a powerful earthquake.

In a Monday message to his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts, Amir Mohsen Ziaee expressed his condolences to the two countries’ people and families of the victims over the massive earthquake.

Ziaee said the IRCS is ready to support the Red Crescent Society in Afghanistan and Pakistan in their rescue and relief operations for the quake-affected people.

A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck northern Afghanistan, with tremors felt in Pakistan and northern India on Monday. The quake was also felt in the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

The death toll is rapidly rising amid reports of buildings being reduced to rubble in areas hit hardest by the earthquake.

Pakistan's Urdu language newspaper Jang said that more than one hundred people have been killed across the country as a result of the earthquake so far.

Latest reports indicate that at least 80 people have have been confirmed dead across Afghanistan.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said on Monday that the quake was centered near Jarm, 250 kilometers (160 miles) from the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Iran’s message of sympathy

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham on Monday expressed the country’s sympathy with the Afghan and Pakistani governments and nations over the powerful quake.

Afkham said Iran is ready to immediately dispatch humanitarian, medical and relief aid to the quake-stricken areas.

She also offered her condolences over the deaths of people in the two countries.

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