A magnitude-6.4 earthquake shook central Iran on Tuesday, destroying villages, killing at least 231 people and injuring more than 1,000, state-run television reported. Residents frantically dug through collapsed mud-brick homes looking for loved ones as the toll rose. Mohammad Javad Fadaei, deputy provincial governor of Kerman, said the death toll stood at 231, according to state-run television. Another provincial official told The Associated Press it could reach 350. Live pictures on Iranian television showed ambulances carrying the dead and injured and survivors sitting next to the dead, slapping their own faces and heads in grief. Victims wrapped in bloodied bandages or with broken legs and hands were shown in a local hospital. Survivors pleaded for help finding the buried: "What a catastrophe. Please help us," one said. The epicenter of the 6.4-magnitude quake, which struck at 5:55 a.m., was on the outskirts of Zarand, according to the seismological unit of Tehran University's Geophysics Institute. --more 1436 Local Time 1136 GMT
