DFA checking if Filipinos among those affected by Iran quake

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it is checking whether any Filipinos were among those affected by the 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck western Iran near the border with Iraq early Sunday, August 26.

In a statement on Sunday, the DFA said it is “monitoring the aftermath of the earthquake.” The Philippine Embassy in Tehran, it said, is in coordination with two Filipino-Iranian families based in Kermanshah province, near the reported epicenter.

Citing Ambassador Wilfredo Santos, DFA said the two families are safe.

“According to Ambassador Wilfredo Santos, all 10 members of the two families are safe and are not among the 100 persons reported injured in the tremor that was also felt in Iraq,” DFA said.

The shallow quake hit 26 kilometers southwest of the city of Javanrud in Kermanshah province, the United States Geological Survey said, near the site of a powerful quake last year that killed hundreds.

The head of the emergency department at the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Saeb Sharidari, told state news agency IRNA that two people were killed and 241 people injured, 6 critically.

Sharidari said the two dead were a pregnant woman and a 70-year-old man who died of a heart attack.

The provincial head of the Red Crescent, Mohammad Reza Amirian, said there had been at least 21 aftershocks.

Meanwhile, the DFA also reported that no Filipinos were affected in the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Peru near its borders with Brazil and Bolivia on Friday, August 24. – with reports from Agence France Presse/Rappler.com