Earthquake Kills Over 100 at Iran-Iraq Border
12, 2017
TEHRAN — An earthquake struck the border region of Iran
and Iraq on Sunday, killing over 100 people in Iran, the country’s National Medical Emergency Service reported, according to the state English-language television news channel, Press TV.
The quake, which struck shortly before 10 p.m., was centered about 19 miles outside Halabja, in eastern Iraq (about 125 miles northeast of Baghdad)
and had a magnitude of 7.3, according to the United States Geological Survey.
In the provincial capital of Sulaimaniyah, the second-largest city in the Iraqi Kurdish region,
residents described feeling heavy tremors but said there was no notable building damage.
The head of Iraq’s water resource management, Hassan Janani, reported
that the Darbandikhan dam, also in Sulaimaniyah, had sustained some damage, although his teams did not believe that residents were in any danger.
In Iraq, emergency workers said at least six Iraqis living in remote villages in Sulaimaniyah Province, near the Iranian border, had died.
In Baghdad, the tremors were strong enough to shake bookcases
and wall-mounted television screens, sending residents in several neighborhoods out into the street.