* Two quakes hit northwest Iran near city of Tabriz
* Quakes are 6.4 and 6.3 in magnitude
* Casualty toll may rise as rescuers reach more villages
* Some 16,000 people given emergency shelter
DUBAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Two strong earthquakes killed 180
people and injured another 1,300 in northwest Iran where
rescuers frantically combed through the rubble of dozens of
villages on Sunday.
Thousands fled their homes and remained outdoors after
Saturday's quakes, as at least 20 aftershocks hit the area.
Casualty numbers could well rise, Iranian officials feared,
as some of the injured were in critical condition, others were
still trapped under the rubble and rescuers had yet to reach
some of the affected villages. Some 60 villages had sustained
more than 50 percent damage, Iranian media said.
Iran is straddled by major fault lines and has suffered
several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6
magnitude quake in 2003 which turned the southeastern historic
city of Bam into dust and killed more than 25,000 people.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake
at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 60 km (37 miles) northeast
of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9 km (6.2 miles). A second
quake measuring 6.3 struck 49 km (30 miles) northeast of Tabriz
11 minutes later at a similar depth.
Provincial official Khalil Sa'ie said 180 people had been
killed and some 1,300 injured, the semi-official Fars news
agency reported.
The second quake struck near the town of Varzaghan. "The
quake was so intense that people poured into the streets through
fear," Fars news agency said of the town.
About 210 people in Varzaghan and Ahar were rescued from
under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the official IRNA news
agency reported.
"Since some people are in a critical condition and rescue
workers are still trying to rescue people from under the rubble,
unfortunately it is possible for the number of casualties to
rise," IRNA quoted Bahram Samadirad, a provincial official from
the coroner's office, as saying.
NEED FOR EMERGENCY SHELTER
Photographs posted by Iranian news websites showed about a
dozen bodies lying on the floor in the corner of a white-tiled
morgue in Ahar, and medical staff, surrounded by anxious
residents, working on the injured in the open air as dusk fell.
"I was just on the phone talking to my mother when she said
'there's just been an earthquake', then the line was cut," one
woman from Tabriz, who lives outside Iran, wrote on Facebook
after telephoning her mother in the city.
"God, what has happened? After that I couldn't get through.
God has also given me a slap, and it was very hard."
Tabriz is a major city and trading hub far from Iran's oil
producing areas and known nuclear facilities. Buildings in the
city are substantially built, and the Iranian Students' News
Agency said nobody in the city itself had been killed or hurt.
Homes and businesses in Iranian villages, however, are often
made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and
collapse in a strong quake.
Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar was quoted by Mehr
news agency as saying about 16,000 people in the quake-hit area
had been given emergency shelter.
Fars quoted lawmaker Abbas Falahi as saying he believed
rescue workers had not yet been able to reach between 10 and 20
villages.
A local provincial official urged people in the region to
stay outdoors during the night for fear of aftershocks,
according to IRNA. Falahi said people in the region were in need
of bread, tents and drinking water.
The Turkish Red Crescent said it was sending a truck full of
emergency supplies to the border, an official said. Turkey's
Foreign Ministry said it had informed Iran it was ready to help.
(Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Jon Hemming)