Sunday, November 12, 2017

"Powerful earthquake rocks Iran-Iraq border"

The USGS (blogroll, right) now has it at a moment magnitude 7.3.

From al-Jazeera:
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake has struck the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, near the border with Iran, with shockwaves felt as far away as Qatar.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said Sunday's quake hit close to Halabjah, southeast of Sulaymaniyah, a city in the Iraqi region administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The tremor struck at 21:18 local time (18:18) GMT, and its epicentre was at a depth of 33.9km.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from the Iraqi capital Baghdad, said cars came to a standstill as the buildings began to sway.

"Baghdad is not prone to earthquakes so when people began to come outside, the shock was visible on the faces."

"For the first few seconds, I actually thought an explosion had taken place, but as it carried on - for up to a minute - I realised it was an earthquake," he added....MORE