(Tehran) At least four people were killed and 120 others injured in a magnitude 5 earthquake that struck northeastern Iran on Tuesday, official media reported.
State television broadcast images from a village hit by the earthquake, showing many buildings completely destroyed.
Rescuers were clearing rubble there to try to save people who might still be trapped underneath.
The earthquake with a magnitude of “nearly 5” shook the town of Kashmar at 1:24 p.m. (5:54 a.m. Eastern time), killing four people and injuring 120, state television announced on Wednesday. local governor, Hojatollah Shariatmadari.
The American Seismological Institute (USGS) for its part estimated the magnitude at 4.9, specifying that the earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers.
The earthquake mainly damaged dilapidated buildings in urban and rural areas, Shariatmadari added.
Two individuals were killed “by the falling facade” of a building while “they were fleeing,” the official said.
The governor wanted to be reassuring by saying that the authorities were now under control of the situation.
Iran is located at the meeting of several tectonic plates and experiences high seismic activity.
In early 2023, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake killed three people and injured more than 800 in a mountainous region in the northwest of the country, near the border with Turkey.
In July 2022, five people were killed and around a hundred were injured after several earthquakes half-destroyed a village in the south of the country, not far from the Strait of Hormuz.
In February 2020, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit the village of Habash-e Olya and killed at least nine people across the border in Turkey.
In December 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the town of Bam, in southeastern Iran, killing more than 31,000 people.
The deadliest earthquake ever recorded in the country, measuring 7.4, occurred in 1990, killing 40,000 people in the north of the country and injuring 30,000. Half a million people were left homeless.