Rescue efforts continue as Iran-Iraq quake toll tops 530

Two days after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Iran-Iraq border, rescue workers continue to use heavy equipment to dig through the debris in search of survivors. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency on Tuesday reported the quake killed 530 people in Iran and injured 7,460 others. The Iraqi Interior Ministry said seven people died in that country, with 535 others sustaining injuries. All the Iranian casualties occurred in the hard-hit Kurdish province of Kermanshah. In the province’s town of Sarpol-e-Zahab, the army set up field hospitals after the quake damaged the local clinic. Rescuers and residents used heavy blankets to carry bodies out of collapsed buildings. Authorities warn the death toll could rise further. Mohammad Ali Monshizadeh, a spokesman for the Kermanshah’s forensic department, told IRNA that families buried as many as 150 people not counted in the official death toll. Iran’s Red Crescent also expressed concern about more casualties in rural villages. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited the province Tuesday and offered his support to the people affected by the quake: “This was a pain for all Iranians.”