Tehran, Jan 5, IRNA – Director of Relief Aid and Rescue Operation of Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) Mahmoud Mozaffar said on Saturday that the first batch of relief aid for Myanmar will be shipped on Saturday night.

The relief aid will be distributed among oppressed Muslims in Myanmar, he said.

Speaking to IRNA, he said the shipment consists of 30 tons of foodstuffs, tents, mats and blankets which will be delivered to Myanmar's Red Cross.

He said that an Iranian assessment team will also visit Myanmar to study the needs of Muslims for the next shipments.

Tehran, Aug 24, IRNA – The government of Japan decided on August 24 to extend grant emergency assistance which is necessary for purchasing prefabricated houses to the government of Iran for the northwest Iran quake.

The upper limit of its assistance is up to 90 million Japanese yen (approximately US$1,110,000), according to the press release of Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan.

Berlin, Aug 17, IRNA -- Germany is to send medical relief for the victims of Saturday's powerful twin earthquakes in northwestern Iran, the German Foreign Ministry announced here on Friday.

It is our compassionate duty to provide humanitarian help to those people who are in distress. They need our solidarity following Saturday's terrible earthquake catastrophe, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a press statement.

German quake relief is to include medical and hygienic supplies.

Khoy, West Azerbaijan province, August 13, IRNA -- Turkish rescue team are operating in quake hit areas, Governor of Khoy Gholamhossein Ammari said on Monday.

He told IRNA, following the Turkish Foreign Ministry offer to help the quake victims in East Azarbaijan province, a rescue team from Turkey Red Crescent Society composed of 36 aid workers arrived in Razi early Monday at 1:00 carrying relief aid supplies with themselves.

After being welcomed by Qotur District officials they departed khoy to East Azerbaijan's quake stricken areas.

Berlin, Aug 13, IRNA - A German medical team was to depart Monday for the quake-stricken region in northwestern Iran, according to press reports.

Organized by Berlin-based Iranian engineer Cyrus Ghiasi, the four-member team of the medical aid organisation, humedica, was to head to the quake area via Tabriz later in the day to provide medical assistance to the survivors of Saturday's killer earthquake.

"We think we can be of help in the quake-hit area," said the coordinator of the Iran mission, Susanne Merkel.

TEHRAN (ISNA)-A powerful earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale jolted northwestern Iran, leaving at least 40 people dead.

The epicenter was initially determined to be at 38.49 degrees north latitude and 46.87 degrees east longitude in Ahar city of East Azarbaijan, according to Iranian Seismological Center.

Health Ministry's director of emergency medical care Gholamreza Masumi said that the deadly earthquake had left about 40 people dead.

Bushehr, May 7, IRNA --Tthe Director General of Soil Maintenance and Erosion Department of the Forest, Range & Watershed Management Organization, Parviz Garshasbi says more than 110 million hectares of land in Iran are turning into desert.

Garshasbi told a group of the Organization's staff and directors that presently between 110 million to 118 million hectares of land in Iran are being desertified and 32 million hectares out of the total have turned into deserts.

Tehran, Dec 24, IRNA - The 20th consignment of Iran's relief supplies was sent to famine-hit Somalia on Saturday.

The shipment included 541 tons of medical equipment and foodstuff such as powdered milk, biscuits, rice, cans of tuna fish and chocolate.

So far, Iran Red Crescent Society has dispatched over 6,000 tons of medicines and foodstuff to Somalia.

Conflict-wracked Somalia is the country hardest hit by the extreme drought affecting 12 million people across the Horn of Africa.

Ankara, Nov 6, IRNA -- On the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha feast, the Iranian Red Crescent Society delivered the fifth relief aid to governor of quake-stricken Van province, eastern Turkey.

The Iranian consignment is consisted of 700 electric heaters.

An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit Van province near Turkey's border with Iran on October 23, claiming at least 279 lives and injured more than 1,300.

9060**1416 Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30650384