Strong Earthquake in Southwest Iran Leaves over 100 Injured
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale that struck Iran’s southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad on Wednesday morning has injured more than 100 people, a local health official said.
Jalal Pouranfard, the head of the Emergency Medical Center of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, told Tasnim that so far, 105 people have been confirmed injured in the temblor that rocked the cities of Yasouj and Sisakht.
He added that among the injured, 32 were admitted to the hospitals of the province, 65 were outpatients and the remainder were treated at the site of the incident.
The epicenter of the quake that occurred at 8:38 A.M. (local time) was determined to be at 30. 835 degrees north latitude and 51.559 degrees east longitude.
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.
