Earthquake on Iraq-Iran border kills 400 and injures thousands

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake near the Iraq-Iran border has killed more than 400 people and sent residents fleeing their homes into the night, authorities said.

Iran’s western Kermanshah province bore the brunt of the quake on Sunday night, with authorities saying the quake killed 407 people in the country and injured 6,700.

Kermanshah is a rural, mountainous region where residents rely mainly on farming.

In Iraq, the earthquake killed at least seven people and injured 535, all in the country’s northern Kurdish region, according to Iraq’s Interior Ministry.

The quake was centred around 19 miles outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja, according to the most recent measurements from the US Geological Survey.

It struck at 9.48pm Iran time, just as people began retiring for the night.

It could be felt on the Mediterranean coast, some 660 miles away.

The earthquake struck 14.4 miles below the surface, a shallow depth that can amplify damage.

Iranian social media and news agencies showed images and vid-

The scene of devastation at Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran after the massive earthquake struck on Sunday night and (right) relatives weep over the dead

eos of people fleeing their homes. More than 100 aftershocks followed.

The quake’s worst damage appeared to be in the town of Sarpol-e-Zahab in Kermanshah province, which sits in the Zagros Mountains that divide Iran and Iraq.

Kokab Fard, a 49-year-old housewife in Sarpol-e-Zahab, said she fled empty-handed when her apartment complex collapsed.

“Immediately after I managed to get out, the building collapsed,” she said. “I have no access to my belongings.”

Sarpol-e-Zahab residents said the power and water were out and telephone and mobile phone lines were spotty.

Amina Mohammed, who survived the quake in Darbandikhan, Iraq, said she and her sons escaped their home as it collapsed around them.

“I think it was only God that saved us,” she said.

“I screamed to God and it must have been him who stopped the stairs from entirely collapsing on us.”

President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to tour earthquake-damaged areas today.