Iran quake kills 200, 1,700 hurt

A 7.2-MAGNITUDE earthquake struck a region near the Iran-Iraq border Sunday, killing 200 people and injuring nearly 1,700 others, Iran’s state-run news agency said.

The quake hit about 15 miles outside Halabja, Iraq, at 9:18 p.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said the death toll in the powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake killed 200 people and injured 1,686 others in cities and towns in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah. The report also said rescuers worked through the night and that operations would be accelerated during the day Monday.

State TV reported there were at least six deaths and 200 injuries in Iraq, but Iraqi government officials have not commented on their losses.

At least eight Iranian villages were damaged, Iran’s state TV reported. Water and electricity lines were cut off in some villages and cities in Kermanshah Province, while residents stood in the streets due to fears of aftershocks, an official told state-run media.

Later Sunday, a magnitude 6.5 quake hit the coast of Costa Rica and shook its capital, San José. The national Public Safety Ministry reported two serious injuries in the 8:30 p.m. temblor.