BEIRUT — The death toll in a powerful earthquake that jolted the Iran-Iraq border on Sunday night has risen to more than 400, according to Iranian state media reports, and it was expected to climb further.
The majority of the casualties appeared to be in Iran’s Kermanshah province, which borders Iraq. Videos and images from the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 10 miles from the border, showed partially collapsed buildings and residents wrapped in blankets in the streets. One photograph distributed by state media showed a woman clutching what appeared to be a dead child covered in a white shroud.
According to local media reports, emergency personnel worked through the night to rescue victims from the rubble. Power outages were reported across western Iran, which is home to some of the country’s poorest regions.
In Iraq, the Health Ministry said seven people died and 535 were injured, with the damage and casualties concentrated in the northern Kurdish region.
“Some of the old buildings fell apart and injured more than 60 people,” said Mulla Nasih Hassan, mayor of Darbandikhan, near the Iranian border. He said some of the injured were in critical condition and had been moved to hospitals in the city of Sulaymaniyah.
“Almost all the people of Darbandikhan spent the night outside in the open, fearing another quake,” Hassan said.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressed condolences Monday and ordered government agencies, including the military and the Revolutionary Guard Corps, to assist with rescue and humanitarian efforts.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also dispatched a delegation led by the interior minister to assess the damage in Kermanshah, about 250 miles from the capital, Tehran. He was expected to visit affected areas on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
Iran sits atop major fault lines and has suffered devastating earthquakes. In 2003, the historic city of Bam, in southeastern Iran, was destroyed by an earthquake that killed more than 26,000 people.
Mustafa Salim in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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