Casualty toll in Iran quake continues to soar

BAGHDAD: Iranian state television says the number of injured people from the last night’s magnitude 6.3 earthquake in the country’s west has reached more than 700.
The report Monday said most were immediately released from hospitals and suffered only slight injuries. There have been no reported fatalities from the temblor.
Sunday night’s earthquake struck near Sarpol-e Zahab in Iran’s Kermanshah province, which suffered half of the casualties from last year’s quake and where some still remain homeless.
State television in Iran reported the quake. Authorities said six rescue teams were immediately deployed after the quake stopped.
Morteza Salimi of Iran’s Red Crescent told state TV that since the area was reconstructed after the last year’s quake, officials hope there won’t be casualties.
The earthquake had a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), making it very shallow. Shallow earthquakes have broader damage.
The earthquake was felt in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and various provinces in Iraq, according to reports.
Iran is located on major seismic faults and experiences an earthquake per day on average. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake flattened the historic city of Bam in southern Iran, killing 26,000 people.
Last year’s earthquake near Sarpol-e Zahab, a predominantly Kurdish town, had a magnitude of 7.3.