<DIV dir=ltr align=left>Tehran faultlines not cause of fridays quake in capital city</DIV>

Tehran, May 30, IRNA -- An earthquake expert said here Saturday that
   the Tehran faultlines were not the cause of the Friday`s quake in the
   capital city.
   The precise determination of tremors that rattled Mazandaran
   province also needs further studies, Director for Public Training of
   Earthquake Research Center, Farokh Parsizadeh told IRNA.
   He further refuted rumors on the predictability of the precise
   occurrence of earthquakes.
   "No expert is able to determine the timing of tremors, which is
   practically impossible. Any assertion in this regard is completely
   false," he added.
   There is no danger threatening the capital city, but the
   residents, if they feel more comfortable, can spend time outside their
   homes, Parsizadeh said.
   He said three teams with the aim of assessing the damage have
   been dispatched to quake-stricken areas.
   The seismological base of Tehran University`s Geophysics Institute
   said quakes, measuring from 1.6 to 5.5 on Richter scale, hit Baladeh
   region in the northern province of Mazandaran 65 times during 12
   hours.
   A powerful earthquake, measuring 5.5 degrees on the Richter scale,
   struck vast parts of Iranian northern cities at 17:08 hours local time
   (1238 GMT) on Friday. The quake also shook the capital Tehran.
   The quake has killed at least 20 people, injured 200 others and
   damaged scores of villages of 30 to 100 percent.
   Eleven of the dead were occupants of over 60 cars which were
   buried under falling rocks on a mountain road that crosses the Alborz
   Mountain chain between Tehran and Chalus on the Caspian Sea coast,
   governor of Kelardasht District, west of Mazandaran, Hossein Ali
   Golalizadeh said.
   He did not give the exact number of those killed but said "many"
   people have been killed.