TEHRAN, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least 211 Iranians died in a huge 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit the Iran-Iraq border area on Sunday, state TV reported Monday.
The quake which centered at 103 km southeast of the city of Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, also injured over 2,500 people, the report said.
The tremor was felt in several Iranian provinces bordering Iraq including the capital, Tehran.
Over 20 Iranian villages in Iran's Kermanshah province have been damaged and power and water flows disrupted.
Iranian emergency teams have been dispatched to the quake-hit region and helicopters are delivering basic needs. There are also strong aftershocks in the area, according to the report.
The earthquake and after-shakes magnitude varied from 4.5 to 6.1. The earthquake has also been felt in Turkey, Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
In Iran's western Sanandaj city, people evacuated their houses following the strong earthquake.
Esmail Najar, the head of Iran's National Disaster Management Organization said more injured people might be buried under the rubble in Qasr-e Shirin and Sarpol-e Zahab counties in Kermanshah province.
Three mourning days has been announced in Kermanshah province.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged all Iranian officials and institutions to "rush to the aid of those affected in these early hours" after the incident.
Khamenei said the country's entire range of capabilities had to be used swiftly to prevent a further rise in the death toll, according to Press TV.
He called on Iran's Armed Forces to help with removing the rubble and transferring the injured to medical centers.
Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major fault lines that cover at least 90 percent of the country. As a result, destructive earthquakes in Iran occur constantly.
The deadliest quake in Iran's modern history happened in June 1990. It destroyed the northern cities of Rudbar, Manjil, and Lushan, along with hundreds of villages, killing about 37,000 people.
An earthquake in the southeastern city of Bam in December 2003 killed 26,000 people.
