HIGHLIGHTSSteps Taken to Prevent Disease Spreading||Iran Stops Short of Accepting American Offer of Help||25,000 Made Homeless; 15, 000 Injured|| STORY: Iran's Red Crescent on Sunday revised down the number of dead in a powerful earthquake in northern Iran to 222 from an earlier estimate of 500 as rescuers picked through rubble to find any remaining survivors. (Read photo caption)

"There was a mistake, the previous number was the number of dead and injured together," state television reported Red Crescent official Majid Shalviri as saying.

Emergency services tried to cope with hundreds of injured and other survivors of the quake which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, and took steps to prevent disease spreading.

The quake, which struck early Saturday razing dozens of villages in north Iran's Qazvin province, killed many women, children and elderly people at home while men were working in the fields and vineyards.

President Bush, who said he was saddened by news of the earthquake, extended an offer of humanitarian aid to Iran, reaching out to a country his administration has branded part of an "axis of evil."

"Human suffering knows no political boundaries," Bush said in a statement. "We stand ready to assist the people of Iran as needed and as desired."

But Iran's interior minister stopped short of accepting Bush's offer and instead said Tehran would accept humanitarian aid from U.S. non-governmental organizations.

"We are ready to accept all aid from NGOs," Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari told Reuters in response to a question on whether he would accept Bush's offer.

Deputy Interior Minister Mohammadhossein Moqimi said Tehran would welcome assistance from the American people.
"The American nation are a kind nation and we welcome any help which comes from them," he said.

THE INJURED & THE HOMELESS

Red Crescent officials said 5,000 houses had been destroyed and 25,000 people made homeless, with at least four strong aftershocks inflicting more damage.

At least 1,500 people were injured, the heaviest casualties close to the epicenter at Avaj, a mountain town of 3,600 people some 130 miles west of the capital, Tehran.

The head of Iran's Red Crescent said relief workers, food, more than 1,000 tents, 2,500 blankets and mobile kitchens had been dispatched to the stricken area. Extra ambulances had been sent, while the army was supplying water trucks.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iranian soldiers carry the body of a person who was killed in Saturday's earthquake, in Abdarrah, Iran, Sunday June 23, 2002. A powerful earthquake Saturday flattened nearly 100 remote mountain villages in northwestern Iran, killing at least 220 people, injuring hundreds more and leaving thousands homeless.(AP Photo)
- Jun 23 3:13 PM ET