IRGC Says Ready to Help in Rescue Efforts in Iran’s Quake-Hit Kermanshah

TEHRAN (defapress) – The spokesman for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said the IRGC is ready to dispatch its forces and equipment to the province of Kermanshah in western Iran after an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck the province.

News ID: 73938

Date: 26 November 2018 - 12:43

The IRGC is well prepared in the area of health and medical assistance and its equipment and facilities are ready to be used when need be, General Ramezan Sharif said on Monday.

He added that in a telephone call with the commander of the IRGC of Kermanshah Province, he was informed that the incident was not too serious.

More than 630 people were injured in the magnitude 6.4 earthquake near the border with Iraq on Sunday night.

According to Tehran’s Institute of Geophysics, the quake struck 17 km west of the city of Sarpol-e-Zahab, 18 km from Qasr-e Shirin and 33 km from the city of Gilan-e-Gharb in Kermanshah province.

The institute put the magnitude of the quake at 6.4. It was followed by a number of aftershocks ranging from 3-5.2 degrees on the Richter scale.

The tremor was also felt in most cities in Kermanshah and Ilam provinces as well as in Tabriz and Urmia, the capital cities of East and West Azarbaijan provinces, respectively.

It also jolted the Iraqi capital Baghdad and Kuwait.

Some 630 people were injured following the quake and its aftershocks.

“…No fatalities have been reported,” Houshang Bazvand, governor of Kermanshah province, told state TV.

“No reports of any fatalities yet and most of the injured were hurt while fleeing, not due to quake damage,” Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of Iran’s emergency services, also confirmed.

Iran, which sits on several geological fault lines, is prone to earthquakes and suffers a quake per day on average.

In November 2017, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Kermanshah Province, killing more than 600 and injuring more than 9,000.

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