5.3-Magnitude Quake Jolts Northeastern Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit an area near the holy city of Mashhad in Iran’s northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi on Wednesday.
The epicenter of the earthquake was determined at 36 kilometers from Sefid Sang, a city in Qalandarabad District in the Khorasan Razavi Province.
The earthquake, which was felt in the provincial capital, Mashhad, occurred at 01:42 local time.
The epicenter, with a depth of 7 km, was determined to be at 35.75 degrees of latitude and 60.48 degrees of longitude.
There were no immediate reports of casualties and the extent of the damages inflicted on the quake-hit area.
Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major fault lines that cover at least 90% of the country. As a result, earthquakes in Iran occur often and are destructive.
The deadliest quake in Iran's modern history happened in June 1990. It destroyed the northern cities of Rudbar, Manjil, and Lushan, along with hundreds of villages, killing an estimated 37,000 people.
Bam in the country’s southeastern province of Kerman witnessed a strong quake in December 2003 which killed 31,000 people.
