Iraq's Interior Ministry said seven people in the country's self-ruled northern Kurdish region died and 321 people were injured as a result of the the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Iraq Sunday, ABC news reported.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al Abadi said, in a statement, he was issuing a directive for the country's civil defense teams and "related institutions" to respond to the natural disaster.

The most extensive damage in Iraq was in the town of Darbandikhan.