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Over 400 dead from earthquake in Iran-Iraq border area

Author
AP,
Publish Date
Tue, 14 Nov 2017, 11:23AM
​

Over 400 dead from earthquake in Iran-Iraq border area

Author
AP,
Publish Date
Tue, 14 Nov 2017, 11:23AM

Rescuers dug with their bare hands yesterday through the debris of buildings brought down by a powerful earthquake that killed more than 400 people in the once-contested mountainous border region between Iraq and Iran, with nearly all of the victims in an area rebuilt since the end of the ruinous 1980s war.

Sunday night's magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck about 31 kilometres outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja, according to the most recent measurements from the US Geological Survey. It hit at 9.48pm Iran time, just as people were going to bed.

The worst damage appeared to be in the Kurdish town of Sarpol-e-Zahab in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah, which sits in the Zagros Mountains that divide Iran and Iraq.

Residents fled into the streets as the quake struck, without time to grab their possessions, as apartment complexes collapsed into rubble. Outside walls of some complexes were sheared off by the quake, power and water lines were severed, and telephone service was disrupted.

Survivors sit in front of buildings damaged by an earthquake, in Sarpol-e-Zahab. Photo / AP

Survivors sit in front of buildings damaged by an earthquake, in Sarpol-e-Zahab. Photo / AP

Residents dug frantically through wrecked buildings for survivors as they wailed. Firefighters from Tehran joined other rescuers in the desperate search, using dogs to inspect the rubble.

The hospital in Sarpol-e-Zahab was heavily damaged, and the army set up field hospitals, although many of the injured were moved to other cities, including Tehran.

It also damaged an army garrison and buildings in the border city and killed an unspecified number of soldiers, according to reports.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei immediately dispatched all government and military forces to aid those affected.

ShakeMap from USGS shows the earthquake that struck yesterday on the Iran-Iraq border.

ShakeMap from USGS shows the earthquake that struck yesterday on the Iran-Iraq border.

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