Iran-Iraq earthquake: Deadly tremor hits border region
AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake has shaken the northern border region between Iran and Iraq, killing at least 221 people and injuring more than 5,660.
One Iranian aid agency said 70,000 people needed shelter after the quake, one of the largest this year.
At least 207 of those who died were in Iran's western Kermanshah province, with seven killed elsewhere in Iran.
Seven more people died in Iraq, where people fled into the streets in the capital, Baghdad.
Mosques in the city have been broadcasting prayers through loudspeakers.
"I was sitting with my kids having dinner and suddenly the building was just dancing in the air," a Baghdad mother-of-three, Majida Ameer, told Reuters news agency.
"I thought at first that it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming: 'Earthquake!'"
Iranian news agencies Isna and Khabar quoted ministry of health officials as saying 5,341 people had been injured in Iran.
Most of the victims were in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 15km (10 miles) from the border, Iran's emergency services chief, Pir Hossein Koolivand was quoted as saying on Iranian state television channel Irinn.
The town's main hospital was severely damaged, leaving it struggling to treat hundreds of wounded, state TV reported.
Many homes in the mountainous area are made of mud bricks and are at risk of collapse in a significant earthquake like the one that struck on Sunday.
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