Iran quake injures more than 600, but no deaths reported

DUBAI — A magnitude 6.3 earthquake on Iran’s western border with Iraq injured more than 600 people, most suffering minor wounds, state television said on Monday, but no fatalities had been reported.

The Sunday night earthquake was felt in at least seven provinces of Iran, but most strongly in Kermanshah, where last year more than 600 people were killed and thousands injured in Iran’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade.

“The number of wounded people has reached 646 … Most of them were not hospitalized because of the slight injuries,” TV quoted officials as saying.

The head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, Mahmoud Mohammadi Nasab, told TV that there were no fatalities.

TV aired footage of damaged houses in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, where some people still remain homeless following last year’s magnitude 7.3 quake. Iran’s state news agency said two earthquakes measuring 5.2 and 4.6 on the Richter scale jolted Sarpol-e Zahab on Monday morning.

The earthquake had a depth of 10 kilometers, according to the US Geological Survey. Iran state TV gave the depth as 5 kilometers.

The earthquake was felt as far away as the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, about 175 kilometers southwest.

Fears of aftershocks forced many people to spend the night out in the streets in cold weather. All schools and universities in Kermanshah would be closed on Monday, according to media reports.