Magnitude 5.6 Quake Causes Damages in SW Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A relatively strong earthquake struck Iran’s southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad on Wednesday night, injuring at least 35 people and damaging rural areas.
The temblor, measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale, rocked the town of Sisakht at 22:05 local time.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km, was close to a mountainous region on the border between the provinces of Isfahan and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.
At least 35 people have been injured after the earthquake, which caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads.
Many people in the provincial capital, Yasouj, and nearby cities spent the night outside their houses in panic.
Iranian Red Crescent Society teams and other rescue forces have been deployed to the area.
In May 2018, Sisakht was hit by a 5.2-magnitue earthquake.
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.
