Rescue teams in Iran and Iraq continued urgently searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings Monday after a powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the nations’ border region Sunday night, killing more than 300 people and injuring thousands.
“I thought at first that it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming: “Earthquake!'”
—Majida Ameer, Baghdad residentMore than 100 aftershocks reportedly followed the quake, which forced thousands to flee from their homes and subsequently sparked landslides that hindered rescue efforts.
According to Iranian Red Crescent, a disaster relief organization, the earthquake and its aftermath has left more than 70,000 people in need of emergency shelter.
Kokab Fard, a 49-year-old resident of the Iranian town Sarpol-e-Zahab, told the Associated Press that she was forced to leave all of her belongings behind as she escaped her collapsing apartment complex.
“Immediately after I managed to get out, the building collapsed,” Fard said. “I have no access to my belongings.”
“I thought at first that it was a huge bomb,” Majida Ameer, a resident of Baghdad, told Reuters. “But then I heard everyone around me screaming: “Earthquake!'”
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