A huge rescue effort is under way after a powerful earthquake struck Iran’s mountainous border with Iraq, killing more than 400 people and injuring more than 7,000.
The quake is the deadliest in the world this year.
Worst hit was Sarpol-e-Zahab, a town 15km on Iran’s side of the border.
The town’s main hospital was severely damaged, leaving it struggling to treat hundreds of wounded people.
Many homes in the predominantly Kurdish mountainous area are made of mud bricks and are vulnerable in quakes as large as Sunday’s.
One aid agency said 70,000 people needed shelter after the quake, and there were reports that thousands of people were facing a second night in the cold as dusk fell.
Why is Iran prone to earthquakes?
Iran is one of those regions of the world that is all too familiar with quakes, and has experienced some very big tremors in the past.
The big driver here is the clash between the Arabia and Eurasia tectonic plates. The Arabia plate is pushing north by a couple of centimetres a year.
In the south-east of the country, the Arabia plate is actually pushing under the Eurasia plate, but in the north-west these great slabs rub directly against each other. The Zagros mountains are a result of all this compression.
17 Responses
This is really sad. We hope everyone gets help.
Sad
hope the wounded are
ok
My family lives in Iran and some of them got hurt:((((
SO SAD.
I PRAY FOR EVERYONE THERE TO BE SAFE AND ENJOY THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. <3❤️
So sad hope they get some good luck
Just sad
Thats is cost a lot to fix
My family lives in Iran
I PRAY FOR EVERYONE THERE TO BE SAFE AND ENJOY THE REST OF THEIR LIVES
Saddest thing ever hope they recover 🙁
I pray for all of the people suffering in this incident.
oh no that is sooo sad
i wish there was no earth quakes
ill pray for you iran
sad
we are also between tectonic plates (australian and antarctic plates)
Soooo sad I use to live their