Update 2 | Iran-Iraq border: death toll rises to 402 making it deadliest earthquake of 2017

Here is the footage of destruction in #Iran after last nights #earthquake. pic.twitter.com/EBrfAFNCaG

— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) November 13, 2017

At least 402 people have died after the deadliest earthquake of 2017 struck the border region between Iraq and Iran late Sunday.

Iran's state-run media Press TV reported the sharp rise in the death toll Monday adding that 6,650 people were injured in the quake, which was felt as far away as Turkey and Pakistan. Some 145 aftershocks were reported, according to state-run network IRINN.

Monday's death toll has overtaken September's Mexico City earthquake in which 369 people lost their lives.

Local officials added that the death toll would climb as search and rescue teams reached more remote areas.

Over 70,000 people are in need of emergency shelter, said the Iranian Red Crescent.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake measured a magnitude of 7.3, while an Iraqi meteorology official put its magnitude at 6.5, with the epicentre in Penjwin in Sulaimaniyah province in the Kurdistan region close to the main border crossing with Iran.

It reportedly struck 23.2km below the surface.

Kermanshah was the hardest hit province, where in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, more than 236 people died, around 10 miles from the Iraq border. Three days of mourning have been announced.

 “Sarpol-e Zahab has only one hospital, which was demolished in this incident. All patients and hospital staff have been buried beneath the rubble, so it cannot offer any service,” said Farhad Tajari, local MP.

15 members of his family were killed as a result of the quake.

Rescuers worked through the night to find people trapped in collapsed buildings in towns affected by the quake, which was felt as far west as Israel and south to Baghdad.

“There are still people under the rubble. We hope the number of dead and injured won’t rise too much, but it will rise,” said deputy governor of the Iranian border province of Kermanshah Mojtaba Nikkerdar.

Electricity was cut off in several Iranian and Iraqi cities, and fears of aftershocks sent thousands of people in both countries out onto the streets and parks in cold weather.

The Iranian seismological centre registered around 50 aftershocks and said more were expected.

Latest -Deadly 7.3 earthquake that struck #Iran & #Iraq / 200+ killed, over 2,500 injured pic.twitter.com/Z6YAUNjesp

— TBU NEWS (@TBUNEWS) November 13, 2017

Iranian interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said some roads were blocked and there was concern about casualties in remote villages. The Iranian armed forces have been deployed to help the emergency services.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offered his condolences and urged government agencies to do all they could to help those affected. Iranian police, the elite Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated Basij militia forces were dispatched to affected areas overnight, state TV reported.

The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has asked his government to focus on the aid supply. A large number of Iranian internet users criticised Facebook for not activating its safety check feature.

On the Iraqi side, the most extensive damage was in the town of Darbandikhan, 47 miles east of the city of Sulaimaniya in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. More than 30 people were injured in the town, according to the Kurdish health minister, Rekawt Hama Rasheed.

“The situation there is very critical,” Rasheed told Reuters. The district’s main hospital was severely damaged and had no power, he added, so the injured were taken to Sulaimaniya for treatment. Homes and buildings had extensive structural damage, he said.