IRGC Moves Iran’s Biggest Portable Field Hospital to Kermanshah
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) moved the country’s biggest portable field hospital to the western province of Kermanshah to treat those injured in Sunday’s 7.3-magnitude earthquake.
As part of its rescue and relief operations, the IRGC transferred the field hospital from Isfahan province to Kermanshah.
The field hospital is portable and has tents and conexes, operating rooms, outpatient wards, gynecology ward, pharmacy, radiology labs, and even dental facilities.
In a televised interview on Monday, IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said his forces are working in close cooperation with the Army to help victims of the massive earthquake in western Iran.
Major General Jafari said the IRGC has mobilized efforts to rescue people in rural areas while the Army units have focused their relief operation on Sarpol-e-Zahab, a city hit hardest by the Sunday night quake.
According to official tallies, at least 420 Iranians died and over 7,370 others were injured after the quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, whose epicenter was near Halabjah, southeast of Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah, left massive damages in the Iranian border province.
In a statement, the Iranian government expressed sympathy with the bereaved families of the victims and declared Tuesday as a day of mourning across the country.
The province of Kermanshah had earlier declared three days of mourning, as rescue teams from across the country hurried to dig out survivors stuck under the rubble and save the wounded.
Iran’s Red Crescent Society officials announced on Monday evening that the rescue operations in Kermanshah will be completed in a few hours.
Kermanshah’s provincial officials said about 12,000 houses both in urban and rural regions across the province have been totally damaged due to the strong earthquake.
Iranian medical officials announced that several field hospitals have been set up in the quake-hit areas.
Meantime, five groups of injured people were transferred to the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Monday to receive further treatments.