Tehran—At least 400 persons were killed and 2000 other injured when powerful earthquake measured 7.3 magnitudes hit the region around the border between Iran and Iraq on Sunday, officials said.
Dozens of people have been trapped under the rubble and the search and rescue operation are undergoing. Most of the persons were killed in Iran alone, a spokesman for Iran’s National Disaster Management Organization, said on the state television. The tremor felt several areas of Iran but hardest hit province was Kermanshah, which declared three days of mourning.
According to Reuters report, more than 97 of the victims were in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab in Kermanshah, about 15 km (10 miles) from the Iraq border. The major hospital of the city was badly damaged and struggling to cure numbers of injured people, state TV reported.
Kurdish health officials also informed that at least 4 persons were killed in Iraq and at least 50 persons injured. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the quake measured magnitude 7.3. An Iraqi meteorology official put its magnitude at 6.5 with the epicenter in Penjwin in Sulaimaniyah province in the Kurdistan area close to the main border crossing with Iran.
Updated: 11.24 NPT, Nov 14, 1017
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