Two dead, over 200 injured in Iran quake

TEhraN: Two people were killed and more than 200 injured in a strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck western Iran near the border with Iraq, officials told local media.

The shallow quake hit 26km south-west of the city of Javanrud in Kermanshah province yesterday, the US Geological Survey said, near the site of a powerful quake last year that killed hundreds.

Head of the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences emergency department Saeb Sharidari told state news agency IRNA that two people were killed and 241 people injured, six critically.

Sharidari said the two dead were a pregnant woman and a 70-yearold man who died of a heart attack.

The provincial head of the Red Crescent, Mohammad Reza Amirian, said there had been at least 21 aftershocks.

He said there were potential drinking water problems due to damaged infrastructure in villages, but it had not yet been necessary to distribute food and tents.

Kermanshah governor Houshang Bazvand told the Tasnim news agency that electricity was temporarily cut to several villages.

A crisis centre was set up, with hospitals and relief organisations placed on alert.

But the local director of crisis management, Reza Mahmoudian, told the Mehr news agency that “the situation was under control” and no request for help was sent to neigh- bouring provinces.

There were reports the quake was felt across the border into Iraq.

Images on social media showed people being rushed to hospitals, but suggested relatively light damage to infrastructure.

Iran sits on top of two major tectonic plates and sees frequent seismic activity.

In November last year a major 7.3-magnitude quake killed 620 people in Kermanshah and another eight people in Iraq. — AFP