Rescue teams pulled more bodies from the ruins of earthquake-flattened villages in central Iran yesterday, and officials raised the death toll to at least 500.
Teams with dogs and heavy machinery were hampered by bad weather and the mountainous terrain, working in a cold, heavy rain after a night during which temperatures dropped below freezing.
The deputy governor of Kerman province said: "The death toll is now 500, and there's a possibility that the figure will increase." At least 900 people were injured.
Many survivors huddled in tents, trying to escape the chill, after the magnitude 6.4 struck early on Tuesday, damaging some 40 villages with a combined population of 30,000 people and leaving many homeless. Rescue workers were still digging out survivors and bodies in the three most isolated villages.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed his "deep grief and sorrow" over the deaths and offered his condolences to the victims' families, urging rescue workers to speed up their efforts.
President Bush also expressed his condolences. "The United States stands ready to assist the people of Iran in responding to this tragedy, and we will be in contact with the government of Iran to offer concrete help," a written statement from the White House said.
The Iranian government - which shuns direct contacts with the United States - has so far not asked directly for international help, although the Japanese government announced Wednesday that it would send blankets, tents and other aid worth $191,000 to aid quake victims.
The quake was centered on the outskirts of Zarand, a town of about 15,000 people in Kerman province about 600 miles southeast of the capital Tehran. It struck a region only 150 miles from Bam, site of a devastating earthquake in December 2003 that killed 26,000 people and leveled the historic city.
AP