Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed here on Monday that no Indonesian citizens were among the victims of a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that jolted Halabja at the border of Iraq and Iran on Sunday evening.
Director of Indonesian Citizens' Protection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lalu Muhammad Iqbal said in a message received here on Monday that after the earthquake struck Halabja, a city some 350 kilometers (km) north of Bagdad, the Indonesian embassies in Bagdad and Tehran have continued to monitor the developments in the region by coordinating with the local authorities and communities of Indonesian citizens in Iraq and Iran.
"No report has, so far, been received of any Indonesian falling victim (to the disaster)," Iqbal remarked.
Iqbal said Sulaymaniah in the Kurdistan autonomous region, Iraq, some 100 km from Halabja, is the closest location having the concentration of Indonesians to the region affected by the earthquake.
Most Indonesians in Sulaymaniah are working as domestic workers, while around 11 are working as paramedics.
Data from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that some 295 Indonesians are living in Iran and 700 in Iraq. Most Indonesians in Iraq reside in the Kurdistan autonomous region.
It is estimated that around 130 people died, while some one thousand others were injured in Iran due to the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit the region at the border of Iraq and Iran on Sunday evening at around 9:20 p.m. local time. Meanwhile, it was reported that at least seven people had died and dozens others were injured in Iraq due to the earthquake. (WDY)
