Over 400 dead after 7.3 magnitude earthquake hits Iran-Iraq border

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The US Geological Survey said the quake was centered 19 miles (31 kilometers) outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja.

A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake near the Iraq-Iran border killed over 400 people across both countries, sent residents fleeing their homes into the night and was felt as far away as the Mediterranean coast, authorities said today.

Iran’s western Kermanshah province bore the brunt of the temblor 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 centered 31 kilometers outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja, according to the most recent measurements from the US Geological Survey. It struck at 9:48 pm Iran time, just as people began retiring for the night. It could be felt on the Mediterranean coast, some 1,000 kilometers away.

The earthquake struck 23.2 kilometers below the surface, a shallow depth that can amplify damage. Magnitude 7 earthquakes can be highly destructive.

Iranian social media and news agencies showed images and videos 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.

Dancing buildings

The US Geological Survey said the quake measured magnitude 7.3. An Iraqi meteorology official put its magnitude at 6.5 with the epicentre in Penjwin in Sulaimaniyah province in the Kurdistan region close to the main border crossing with Iran.

The quake was felt as far south as Baghdad, where many residents rushed from their houses and tall buildings when tremors shook the Iraqi capital.

“I was sitting with my kids having dinner and suddenly the building was just dancing in the air,” said Majida Ameer, who ran out of her building in the capital’s Salihiya district with her three children. “I thought at first that it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming: ‘Earthquake!’”

Similar scenes unfolded in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, and across other cities in northern Iraq, close to the quake’s epicentre.

Cold weather

Electricity was cut off in several Iranian and Iraqi cities, and fears of aftershocks sent thousands of people in both countries out onto the streets and parks in cold weather.

The Iranian seismological centre registered around 50 aftershocks and said more were expected.

The head of Iranian Red Crescent said more than 70,000 people were in need of emergency shelter.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said some roads were blocked and were worried about casualties in remote villages. The Iranian armed forces have been deployed to help the emergency services.

An Iranian oil official said pipelines and refineries in the area remained intact.

Iran sits astride major fault lines and is prone to frequent tremors. A magnitude 6.6 quake on Dec. 26, devastated the historic city of Bam, 1,000 km (600 miles) southeast of Tehran, killing about 31,000 people.

Hospital severely damaged

On the Iraqi side, the most extensive damage was in the town of Darbandikhan, 75 km (47 miles) east of the city of Sulaimaniyah in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

More than 30 people were injured in the town, according to Kurdish Health Minister Rekawt Hama Rasheed.

“The situation there is very critical,” Rasheed told Reuters.

The district’s main hospital was severely damaged and had no power, Rasheed said, so the injured were taken to Sulaimaniyah for treatment. Homes and buildings had extensive structural damage, he said.

In Halabja, local officials said a 12-year-old boy died of an electric shock from a falling electric cable.

Iraq’s meteorology centre advised people to stay away from buildings and not to use elevators, in case of aftershocks.

Turkey and Israel

Residents of Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir also reported feeling a strong tremor, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in the city.

Turkish Red Crescent Chairman Kerem Kinik told broadcaster NTV that Red Crescent teams in Erbil were preparing to go to the site of the earthquake, and that Turkey’s national disaster management agency, AFAD, and National Medical Rescue Teams (UMKE) were also preparing to head into Iraq. AFAD’s chairman said the organisation was waiting for a reply to its offer for help.

In a tweet, Kinik said the Turkish Red Crescent was gathering 3,000 tents and heaters, 10,000 beds and blankets and moving them towards the Iraqi border.

“We are coordinating with Iranian and Iraqi Red Crescent groups. We are also getting prepared to make deliveries from our northern Iraq Erbil depot,” he said.

Israeli media said the quake was felt in many parts of Israel as well.

 

 

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Survivors warm themselves in front of destroyed buildings after an earthquake at the city of Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran. A powerful earthquake shook the Iran-Iraq border, killing more than 300 people and injuring over 2,500 in the mountainous region of Iran alone, state media there said. Some 50 aftershocks have followed. Baghdad did not immediately release information about damage or casualties in Iraq. (Pouria Pakizeh / ISNA via AP)

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A wounded boy is treated by members of the Red Crescent following a quake in Sarpol-e Zahab, which reorded the highest casualties in Kermanshah, Iran. The Students News agency ISNA quoted the coroner’s office in the province as saying that the death toll was expected to increase. (Tasnim News Agency / REUTERS)

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A woman reacts next to a dead body following an earthquake in Sarpol-e Zahab in Kermanshah, Iran. The 7.3-magnitude quake was centered 31 kms outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja yesterday, according to measurements from the US Geological Survey. Its impact was felt as far west as the Mediterranean coast with worst damage appearing to be in Iran’s western Kermanshah province, which sits in the Zagros Mountains dividing Iran and Iraq. (Tasnim News Agency / Handout via REUTERS )

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A damaged storefront is seen after the earthquake on November 12, 2017 in Halabja, Iraq. The Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said rescue work was continuing overnight and would accelerate during the daytime. Kurdish health officials also said at least four people were killed in Iraq and at least 50 injured. (Osama Golpy / Rudaw / Social Media via REUTERS)

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