© CSEM
An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude has hit Iraq southeast of the city of As-Sulaymaniyah, according to US Geological Survey.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW
Comment: The quake was felt widely.
ZeroHedge reports:
Eye witnesses recount:
"Terrible... Extremely horrible"
"The swaying was significant, I stood up and tried to get to a doorway and stumbled a little bit. It lasted nearly 5 minutes with the first 2 minutes being the strongest."
Moments after the quake strikes Erbil people are rushing into the streets...
Update: Nov. 13New data provided by
Tasnim News Agency now indicates that at least 211 people have been killed and over 2,500 injured in the earthquake in Iran, according to officials from Kermanshah province.
Electricity was cut off in several Iranian and Iraqi cities, and fears of aftershocks sent thousands of people in both countries out onto the streets and parks in cold weather. The
Iranian seismological centre registered around 50 aftershocks and said more were expected. The head of Iranian Red Crescent said more than 70,000 people were in need of emergency shelter.
Update: Nov. 14The death toll from the earthquake in western Iran has jumped to 407 people, with over 6,700 others injured, Iranian Press TV
reports. Local officials said the toll was likely to rise as search and rescue teams reached remote areas. It is now the deadliest earthquake this year surpassing the tremor that struck Mexico City in September, which claimed the lives of 369 people.
Most people who died were in western Iran in Sarpol-e-Zahab, a town 15km (10 miles) from the border, and other parts of Kermanshah province. The town's main hospital was severely damaged, leaving it struggling to treat hundreds of wounded people,
state TV reported.
Running water and electricity cut out in some cities, and after buildings collapsed people were forced to spend hours outdoors in parks or streets in cold weather. Many homes in the predominantly Kurdish mountainous area are made of mud bricks and are vulnerable in quakes as large as Sunday's.
The UN said it was "ready to assist if required" in a statement from a spokesman for the secretary-general.
The quake hit at 21:18 local time (18:18 GMT) about 30km (19 miles) south of Darbandikhan, near the north-eastern border with Iran, the US Geological Survey (USGS)
said. It's likely that it released strain created by the
collision of two tectonic plates: the Arabia plate, which contains the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, and the Eurasia plate, to which Iran belongs.
Comment: The planet is going through another phase of earthquake activity: