Iran-Iraq quake toll hits 415
TENS OF THOUSANDS FORCED TO SLEEP OUTSIDE IN THE COLD FOR A SECOND NIGHT
Teams of Iranian rescuers dug through rubble in a hunt for survivors yesterday after a major earthquake struck the Iran-Iraq border, killing at least 415 people and injuring thousands.
The 7.3-magnitude quake rocked a border area 30km southwest of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday night. Many people would have been at home when the quake hit in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah, where authorities said it killed at least 407 people and injured 6,700.
Across the border in more sparsely populated areas of Iraq, the health ministry said eight people had died and 535 were injured.
As dusk approached yesterday, tens of thousands of Iranians were forced to sleep outside in the cold for a second night as authorities scrambled to provide them with aid.
Some had spent Sunday night outdoors after fleeing their homes in the mountainous cross-border region, huddling around fires at dawn as authorities sent in help. “People’s immediate needs are firstly tents, water and food,” said the head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari.
“Newly constructed buildings... held up well, but the old houses built with earth were totally destroyed,” he told state television during a visit to the affected region.
Hundreds of ambulances and dozens of army helicopters reportedly joined the rescue effort. Like other foreign media organisations, AFP had not received authorisation to visit the scene of the disaster yesterday.
Officials said they were setting up relief camps for the displaced. An emergency services official in Iran said landslides had cut off roads to affected villages, impeding the access of rescue workers.
Apowerful earthquake shook the Iran-Iraq border late Sunday, killing 407 people and injuring over 2,500 in the mountainous region of Iran alone, Iranian media reported.
The temblor killed at least seven people in Iraq and injured 321 there, all in the country’s northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to Iraq’s Interior Ministry.
The magnitude 7.3 quake was centred 31 kilometres outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja, according to the most recent measurements from the US Geological Survey. It struck at a depth of 23.2 kilometres, a shallow depth that can have broader damage. Magnitude 7 earthquakes on their own are capable of widespread, heavy damage.
Felt on Mediterranean coast
The quake was felt as far west as the Mediterranean coast. Its worst damage appeared to be in Iran’s western Kermanshah province, which sits in the Zagros Mountains that divide Iran and Iraq. Residents in the rural area rely mainly on farming to make a living.
Iranian social media and news agencies showed images and videos of people fleeing their homes into the night. More than 100 aftershocks followed.
Iranian state television said the quake had caused heavy damage in some villages where houses were made of earthen bricks. Rescuers were labouring to find survivors trapped under collapsed buildings.
The quake also triggered landslides that hindered rescue efforts, officials told state television. At least 14 provinces in Iran had been affected, Iranian media reported.
Iran’s Health Ministry put the number of injured at more than 2,500, the ISNA news agency reported.
At least 14 provinces in Iran had been affected by the earthquake.
Schools in Kermanshah and Ilam provinces were closed yesterday because of the temblor.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi issued a directive for the country’s civil defence teams and “related institutions” to respond to the natural disaster. Brig. Gen. Sa’ad Maan, an Interior Ministry spokesman, gave the figures for Iraq.
Arbil to Baghdad
The quake could be felt across Iraq, shaking buildings and homes from Arbil to Baghdad, where people fled into the streets of the capital.
The Iraqi city of Halabja, closest to the epicentre, is notorious for the 1988 chemical attack.
Iran sits on many major fault lines and is prone to near-daily quakes. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake flattened the historic city of Bam, killing 26,000 people. The last major casualty earthquake in Iran struck in East Azerbaijan province in August 2012, killing over 300 people.