Quake in Iran kills eight in neighbouring Turkey
Istanbul: A magnitude 5.7 earthquake in northwestern Iran on Sunday killed at least eight people in neighbouring Turkey and injured dozens more on both sides of the border, authorities said.
"We lost eight of our citizens, including three children," Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was quoted as saying by the official Anadolu news agency.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 21 people were injured and eight of them were in critical condition, according to Anadolu. Turkish broadcaster NTV showed images of collapsed adobe houses in several snow-covered villages in Van province on the Iran border.
"There is nobody trapped under the rubble as of this moment," governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with his interior minister to receive information about the search and rescue operation in the region, the Turkish presidency said.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 9:23 am (local time), was near the Iranian village of Habash-e Olya, less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, according to the US Geological Survey.
The earthquake had a depth of six kilometres, according to Tehran University's Seismological Centre. It injured at least 40 people and 17 of them have been hospitalised in Iran's West Azerbaijan province, according to the country's emergency services.
The same source also said there was damage to buildings in 43 villages. Iran sits on top of major tectonic plates and sees frequent seismic activity. In November 2017, a 7.3-magnitude quake in the western province of Kermanshah killed 620 people.
In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake in southeastern Iran decimated the ancient mud-brick city of Bam and killed at least 31,000 people.
Iran's deadliest quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 that killed 40,000 people in northern Iran, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless.
Turkey's Van province was struck earlier this month by two avalanches which killed 41 people. In 2011, an earthquake measuring 7.1 hit near the same region, killing more than 500 people.
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Instagram removes BJP’s post claiming Cong ‘will snatch wealth of non-muslims’ following backlash
New Delhi: An animated video post shared on BJP’s official Instagram handle, asserting that the Congress party would snatch wealth from non-Muslims to ‘distribute it to its favorite community of invaders,’ has sparked significant backlash. Following the uproar, the photo sharing platform has taken down the post, reports Newslaundry.com.
Meanwhile, it is uncertain whether the post was removed by the BJP or by Instagram following mass reporting by several users as “misinformation” and “hate speech”. The video depicted Rahul Gandhi holding the Congress manifesto which transforms into the logo of the Muslim league. Furthermore, it sought support for PM Modi from every ‘Bharatiya,’ who is also shown wearing a saffron turban.
According to the report, it also contained a clip of PM Modi alleging that the former PM Manmohan Singh had said, “Muslims have the first claim on our resources,” insinuating that if the Congress were to assume power, it would confiscate the money and assets of non-Muslims, redistributing them to Muslims, whom it favored. Labeling Muslims as ‘infiltrators’, the video depicted historical invaders as looters who plundered India's resources and suggested that the Congress party continues to empower individuals from the same community.
The video then communicated that the Congress party’s manifesto is “nothing but Muslim league’s ideology in disguise. If you are a non-Muslim, Congress will snatch your wealth and distribute it to Muslims.” It also slinged the BJP’s official slogan ‘abki baar, 400 paar,’ and called that it was the need of the hour, since Modi only has the “strength to stop the Congress party’s evil plans.”
Similar claims have also been made by several BJP leaders. Recently, Union Minister Anurag Thakur stated that the Congress intends to “Give your children's property to Muslims.”
