[DAWN] Iranian rescue workers dug through rubble in a hunt for survivors on Monday after a major earthquake struck the Iran-Iraq border, killing at least 415 and injuring thousands.The 7.3-magnitude quake hit a border area 30 kilometres southwest of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan at around 9:20 pm on Sunday. Many people would have been at home when the quake hit Iran's western province of Kermanshah, where authorities said it killed at least 407 people and injured 6,700.
Across the border in Iraq, where the areas are more sparsely populated, the health ministry said eight people had died and several hundred been injured.
Some Iranians spent the night outdoors after fleeing their homes in the mountainous cross-border region, huddling around fires at dawn as the authorities deployed help to affected areas.
A woman and her baby were pulled out alive from the rubble in the Iranian town of Sar-e Pol-e Zaham, the worst hit in the quake, local media reported.
Officials said they were setting up relief camps but that access to the areas was not easy.
| Update from The Times of Israel at 10:25 a.m. ET: death toll increased to 530, injured now more than 6,700. Both are subject to change, given that there are always double counts and overcounts in the early days after a disaster, whether natural or man-made. No change in the Iraqi numbers at this point, but the Iraqi side of the border is sparsely populated. |