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Death toll in Iran from earthquake on Iraqi border rises to 328 Iran-Iraq earthquake: death toll rises to 335
(35 minutes later)
More than 320 people have been killed and over 5,300 injured in Iran and Iraq after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the border region between the two countries, sending tremors that were felt hundreds of miles away in both capitals, Tehran and Baghdad. A powerful magnitude-7.3 earthquake has rocked the northern border region between Iran and Iraq, killing more than 328 people in Iran and seven in Iraq and injuring thousands more.
At least 328 people have died in Iran, according to a toll published on Monday morning by the semi-official Isna news agency, citing medical officials. The powerful quake struck the country’s western provinces at 9.20pm local time on Sunday. Iran’s semi-official Isna news agency raised the death toll to 328 on Monday morning, after a quake struck the country’s western provinces at 9.20pm local time on Sunday. Local officials said the death toll would rise as search and rescue teams reached remote areas.
More people have died in Sarpol-e Zahab, a city in Iran’s western Kurdistan province, than any other place affected by the earthquake. At least 236 have died there. More than 70,000 people were in need of emergency shelter, the Iranian Red Crescent said.
Officials in Iraq reported that at least six people had died and 50 injured. The hardest hit province was Kermanshah, where three days of mourning have been announced. More than 236 people alone died in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 10 miles) from the Iraq border.
The US Geological Survey said the quake measured magnitude 7.3, while an Iraqi meteorology official put its magnitude at 6.5 with the epicentre in Penjwin in Sulaimaniyah province in the Kurdistan region close to the main border crossing with Iran. It struck 23.2km below the surface, a shallow depth that can have broader damage. Farhad Tajari, the local MP, said 15 members of his family had been killed and that the town’s main hospital was severely damaged and struggling to treat hundreds of injured people.
“Sarpol-e Zahab has only one hospital, which was demolished in this incident. All patients and hospital staff have been buried beneath the rubble, so it cannot offer any service,’ he told local media.
The quake killed at least seven people in Iraq and injured 535, all in the country’s northern, semiautonomous Kurdish region, the interior ministry said.
The magnitude 7.3 quake was centred 19 miles outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja, according to the most recent measurements from the US Geological Survey. It struck at a depth of 23.2kms (14.4 miles), a shallow depth that can have broader damage. Magnitude 7 earthquakes on their own are capable of widespread, heavy damage.
Rescuers worked through the night to find people trapped in collapsed buildings in towns affected by the quake, which was felt as far west as Israel and south to Baghdad.Rescuers worked through the night to find people trapped in collapsed buildings in towns affected by the quake, which was felt as far west as Israel and south to Baghdad.
The deputy governor of the Iranian border province of Kermanshah told state television that the death toll would rise. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offered his condolences on Monday, urging all government agencies to do all they could to help those affected. Iranian police, the elite Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated Basij militia forces were dispatched to affected areas overnight, state TV reported.
“There are still people under the rubble. We hope the number of dead and injured won’t rise too much, but it will rise,” Mojtaba Nikkerdar said. The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has asked his government to focus on the aid supply. A large number of Iranian users on internet criticised the Facebook for not activating its Safety Check feature.
At least 142 people have died in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 15km (10 miles) from the border. The main hospital of the town was severely damaged and struggling to treat hundreds of injured people, state television reported. Qasr-e-Shirin, another city in Kermanshah that serves as a gateway for the transfer of goods between Iran and Iraq, was also badly hit. At least 28 people are reported to have been killed there, Isna said.
“There are still people under the rubble. We hope the number of dead and injured won’t rise too much, but it will rise,” Kermanshah’s deputy governor Mojtaba Nikkerdar said.
Electricity was cut off in several Iranian and Iraqi cities, and fears of aftershocks sent thousands of people in both countries out onto the streets and parks in cold weather.Electricity was cut off in several Iranian and Iraqi cities, and fears of aftershocks sent thousands of people in both countries out onto the streets and parks in cold weather.
The Iranian seismological centre registered around 50 aftershocks and said more were expected. The head of Iranian Red Crescent said more than 70,000 people were in need of emergency shelter. Iran’s interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said some roads were blocked and there was concern about casualties in remote villages.
Iranian interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said some roads were blocked and there was concern about casualties in remote villages. The Iranian armed forces have been deployed to help the emergency services. Pictures posted on social media from cities across Kermanshah showed buildings collapsed in pieces, apartment building losing their facades and cars smashed beneath rubbles. People were busy recovering the bodies as rescue dogs tried to find any signs of life
On the Iraqi side, the most extensive damage was in the town of Darbandikhan, 75km east of the city of Sulaimaniyah in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, where the mayor told AFP that four people had died. نخستین تصاویر از آواربرداری و بیرون کشیدن اجساد جان باختگان زلزله در سرپل ذهاب - ایسنا pic.twitter.com/wi7PcNmrFR
The building was just dancing in the air. On the Iraqi side, the most extensive damage was in the town of Darbandikhan, 75km east of the city of Sulaimaniyah in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. More than 30 people were injured in the town, according to the Kurdish health minister, Rekawt Hama Rasheed.
A child and an elderly person were killed in Kalar, according to the director of the hospital in the town about 70km south of Darbandikhan, and 105 people injured, AFP said. “The situation there is very critical,” Rasheed told Reuters. The district’s main hospital was severely damaged and had no power, he added, so the injured were taken to Sulaimaniyah for treatment. Homes and buildings had extensive structural damage, he said.
Kurdish health minister Rekawt Hama Rasheed told Reuters the situation in Darbandikhan was “very critical”. The district’s main hospital was severely damaged and had no power, Rasheed said, so the injured were being taken to Sulaimaniyah for treatment. There was extensive structural damage to buildings and homes.
In Halabja, local officials said a 12-year-old boy died from an electric shock when an electric cable fell during the earthquake.In Halabja, local officials said a 12-year-old boy died from an electric shock when an electric cable fell during the earthquake.
Many residents in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, rushed out of houses and tall buildings in panic.Many residents in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, rushed out of houses and tall buildings in panic.
“I was sitting with my kids having dinner and suddenly the building was just dancing in the air,” said Majida Ameer, who ran out of her building in the capital’s Salihiya district with her three children. “I thought at first that it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming: ‘Earthquake!’”“I was sitting with my kids having dinner and suddenly the building was just dancing in the air,” said Majida Ameer, who ran out of her building in the capital’s Salihiya district with her three children. “I thought at first that it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming: ‘Earthquake!’”
Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report. Reuters contributed to this report