More than 1,000 injured in earthquake that also damaged mosques, schools and houses in Bam, Kermanshah province
An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck Iran early on Tuesday in an area bordering Iraq, killing at least one person and injuring 1,030, according to local authorities.
The quake was centred at a depth of around 2km, the US Geological Survey said. Tremors were felt as far away as Turkey and Tehran itself.
The quake was felt across the border in Iraqi Kurdistan, and buildings were evacuated in the capital of Erbil. In Iraq, no immediate reports of damage had been received, the interior ministry said.
The official Iranian news agency, Irna, said two people had been killed and 1,010 injured in the city of Bam, the focus of an earthquake in 1999 that killed about 30,000 people, mostly because of a lack of building standards.
Iran is crisscrossed by major fault lines and quakes are common. Last June, a magnitude-6.4 earthquake in the same region killed 40 people and injured 370 in Sarpol-e Zahab, just south of Bam.
Buildings in the ancient city of Bam had been destroyed by the devastating quake and a decade ago its remains were used as a training ground for survivors of a major 2004 earthquake in neighbouring Turkey.
There was no immediate warning of the 1997 quake in Bam, which was 30 miles (50km) north-west of Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The US Geological Survey recorded the 1997 quake as measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale and between 73 and 86 miles (114 and 140km) deep. There were no immediate reports of serious damage in Iraq, where small earthquakes are common.