Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “ordered the government and armed forces to mobilise ‘all their means’ to help the population.”
On Sunday, at 9:48 pm local time, a powerful magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck northwest Iran near the border with Iraq. As of Monday, 413 people had been reported dead with most of the reported deaths in the Iranian province of Kermanshah.
Iranian officials said 413 people had died in the country. Some soldiers and border guards were among the dead, the Iranian army’s commander-in-chief told the state news channel IRINN.
It also triggered landslides in the mountainous region along the Iran-Iraq border and destroyed buildings, shattering windows and sending people running for safety.
According to the geological agency, the earthquake epicenter was almost exactly on the border between the two countries. The nearest city to the epicenter is Halabjah, Iraq — a Kurdish city home to 57,000 — which experienced “severe” shaking, according to the USGS. Light tremors were felt in Baghdad, some 150 miles away. More than 140 aftershocks were reported.
Rescue operations are underway, but are arduous because of the conditions on the ground, Agence France-Presse reports. Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “ordered the government and armed forces to mobilise ‘all their means’ to help the population.”The quake caused damage that contaminated drinking water supplies and knocked out electricity, phone and gas services across a wide area of Kermanshah, most of which is rural. Landslides and scores of aftershocks delayed emergency crews and rattled residents as news media broadcast urgent appeals for blood donations. The Turkish Red Crescent has sent assistance including 33 aid trucks, 3,000 tents and heaters, 10,000 beds and blankets and food to Sulaymaniyah, and the military has dispatched a cargo plane of aid.
