TEHRAN – Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has highlighted the IRGC’s relief operations in quake-hit areas in the northwestern province of East Azrbaijan.

Major General Hossein Salami said his forces will remain in the quake-hit areas to help people as long as necessary, Tasnim reported on Saturday.

Immediately after the recent earthquake in the province, the IRGC forces were dispatched to the area and began the rescue operations, he said.

There are currently 20 heavy vehicles of the IRGC in the area, removing debris, Salami said.

The commander stated that out of the 105 houses whose debris has been removed in the village of Varnakesh, 50 houses were cleared from debris by the IRGC.

Pointing to the 2017 earthquake in the western province of Kermanshah and floods in the southwestern province of Khuzestan earlier this year, General Salami said, “Given the experiences we have gained from the past events and disasters in the country, the dear people of this region should be confident that the Guards will side with the quake-stricken people until the end of the work.”

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook northwestern Iran on Friday, November 8, killing at least five and wounding 518 others.

The strong earthquake hit an area near the city of Tark, around 120km from the provincial capital Tabriz.

Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crisscrossed by several major fault lines that cover at least 90% of the country. As a result, earthquakes in Iran occur often and are destructive.

On November 12, 2017, the western province of Kermanshah was hit by a major 7.3-magnitude quake that killed 620 people.

The deadliest quake in Iran's modern history happened in June 1990. It destroyed the northern cities of Rudbar, Manjil, and Lushan, along with hundreds of villages, killing an estimated 37,000 people.

Bam in the country’s southeastern province of Kerman witnessed a strong quake in December 2003 which killed 31,000 people.

MH/PA