ICRC stands ready to support quake-hit people in Iran

'Very sad news from the Iran and Iraq border. My thoughts are with all those affected by this growing tragedy. Volunteers from iraqircs [Iraqi Red Crescent Society] and Iranian Red Crescent are on the ground with life-saving aid and @ICRC stands ready to support,' Peter Maurer said in a Twitter message which was released on Monday.

Latest reports on the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Kermanshah Province, western Iran and bordering Iraq, on Sunday night, said that it has so far claimed at least 430 lives and injured over 7,460 others.

Foreign leaders have extended their condolences messages. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, German Ambassador in Tehran Michael Klor-Berchtold, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy are among the high-ranking politicians who sympathized with the Iranian nation and government on the tragic event.

Sitting on several major fault lines, Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world and prone to nearly daily quakes.

In 2003, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake killed 26,000 people in Bam in southeastern Iran and flattened the historic city. In August 2012, an earthquake killed more than 250 people in East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran.

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