VALLEY IRANIANS READY TO HELP MEDICINE, CLOTHING, BLANKETS, AMONG RELIEF SUPPLIES BEING COLLECTED.Byline: Michael Gougis Staff Writer Iranians in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. shook off their shock and horror Friday and started planning to aid families, friends and countrymen devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. by a tragic earthquake halfway around the world. ``We are doing it to support the victims of this disaster,'' said Dr. Mohammad Sadegh Namazikhah, president and founder of the Iranian Muslim Association of North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . ``I have a friend who lost 50 people, mostly family, in the earthquake.'' The shock waves from the 5:28 a.m. earthquake, measured at 6.7 on the Richter scale Richter scale (rĭk`tər), measure of the magnitude of seismic waves from an earthquake, devised in 1935 by the American seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900–1985). by the U.S. Geological Survey The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information. A geological survey , set off emotional tremors among many in the Valley area's large Iranian population. Nearly 23,000 Iranians live in the Valley, making up its 13th-largest ethnic population. Iranian television stations, radio stations and several publications have offices here; there is even a Yellow Pages directory devoted to Iranian businesses. ``Everyone is very worried,'' said Omayoun Hooshiarnajad, publisher of the Encino-based Asre Emrooz daily newspaper, which serves the Iranian population in the Valley. Word of the quake Quake - A string-oriented language designed to support the construction of Modula-3 programs from modules, interfaces and libraries. Written by Stephen Harrison of DEC SRC, 1993. spread quickly, via computer and telephone, among Iranians living in the Valley. Bijan Khalili, publisher of the Van Nuys- based Iranian Yellow Pages, said he first heard of the tragedy via the Internet. ``I couldn't sleep last night, and I didn't know why,'' Khalili said. ``I went to my computer, turned it on and I saw this. I started crying.'' Among Khalili's first reactions were anger. ``We had an earthquake here in the Valley, similar in size, in 1994, and we didn't have nearly - nearly - this many people killed,'' he said. ``The government there could do a lot more to protect the people. The people there are helpless.'' In Iran, quakes of more than magnitude 5 usually kill people because most buildings are not built to withstand earthquakes, although the country sits on several major fault lines and temblors are frequent. Iran has a history of earthquakes that killed thousands of people, including one of magnitude 7.3 that killed about 50,000 people in northwest Iran in 1990. Leaders of the Iranian-American community were meeting Friday evening to plan a response to the tragedy. ``We will be meeting and deciding what it is we will do,'' said Limonadi Ali, news director of the Iranian TV offices in Encino. ``Right now, we don't have any news.'' The Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. contributed to this report. Michael Gougis, (818) 713-3762 michael.gougis(at)dailynews.com HOW TO HELP --Contributions of new blankets, medical supplies and clothing are being accepted at the IMAN Center in West Los Angeles
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