Ankara — Iranian officials called off rescue operations, saying there was little chance of finding more survivors from the earthquake that shook parts of western Iran on Sunday, killing at least 530 people, state media said. Survivors, many of whom were left homeless by the earthquake that measured 7.3 on the Richter scale and that struck villages and towns in a mountainous area bordering Iraq, battled overnight temperatures just above freezing point and faced yet another bleak day on Tuesday needing food and water. The 530 death toll reported by state news agency Irna, made it Iran’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade. Thousands of people were injured and 30,000 homes damaged. Two whole villages were destroyed. The quake wreaked the most damage in Iran despite an epicentre on the Iraqi side of the frontier. Iraqi officials said seven people were killed and 325 injured in Iraq, all in the northern Kurdish provinces. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani arrived in the morning in t...
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