Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has implied that government-built buildings collapsed while privately-built ones had remained upright during the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit an Iranian-Iraqi border area on November 12.

While inspecting the damage in the worst-hit city, Sarpol-e Zahab in Iran's western Kermanshah province, Rouhani on November 14 – declared a national day of mourning – vowed to "find the culprits" responsible for buildings collapsing.

At least 430 people were killed and around 8,000 were injured in the quake, the deadliest in the world this year, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). However, the official figures do not include the many people who it is thought died and were buried without a death certificate.

Rouhani’s government is under fire for not getting enough aid including tents to Kermanshah province fast enough. Hundreds of homes were destroyed by the natural disasters and a great many people have spent two nights outdoors in the cold. The death toll was exacerbated in the predominantly Kurdish mountainous area because homes are typically made of mud bricks, making them extremely vulnerable to a major earthquake.

In a live television address, Rouhani said his administration would hold accountable anyone found not to have complied with building standards. "Who is to be blamed? These are the issues that we should follow, we should find the culprits and people are waiting for us to introduce the culprits. We will do that, we will do that," he declared, according to the BBC.

A photograph being shared on social media pictures an unaffected private building standing next to a collapsed building. The latter dwelling was part of the Mehr (“Kindness”) project created by Rouhani’s predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to construct two million housing units for people on low incomes.