Turkish aid group helps 60,000 in quake-hit Iran, Iraq

ISTANBUL

A Turkey-based aid group has helped 60,000 people affected by an earthquake on Iran-Iraq border, it said on Tuesday.

According to a statement, Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said 150 tents, 1,700 and 950 food supplies were distributed among 10,000 people in Iraq following the Nov.12 earthquake.

In Iran, 300 tents and blankets, two tons of dates, 200 mats, 2,016 canned fish, 1,512 canned beans, and 46 boxes of baby diapers were delivered to 50,000 people.

A mobile oven was also dispatched to feed 1,000 people a day in Iraq, IHH’s Middle East Coordinator Emre Kaya said.

Kaya added that mobile kitchen in Iran will also remain active for a month and the foundation will continue to deliver aid, depending on donations.

The 7.3-magnitude quake’s epicenter was located around 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the city of Halabja near the Iranian border and 103 kilometers (64 miles) southeast of Iraq’s northern province of Sulaymaniyah.

Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that the death toll from the quake was at least 432 with more than 9,000 injured.

Iranian officials also announced that 536 villages were destroyed, 12,000 houses had collapsed and at least 70,000 people were homeless.

Reporting by Murat by Kubra Chohan