Heavy damage, more than 100 injured after earthquake rocks northeastern Iran

TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) — More than 100 people were injured and scores of homes were destroyed after a moderate earthquake struck northeastern Iran on late Friday afternoon, reports said.

The 5.7-magnitude earthquake at 6.20 p.m. local time (1350 GMT) was centered approximately 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from Torbat-e Heydarieh, a city in the country’s Razavi Khorasan province. It struck about 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) deep, making it a very shallow earthquake, according to the Iranian Seismological Center.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the strength of the earthquake at 5.6 on the Richter scale.

The USGS estimated that around 164,000 people likely perceived ‘very strong’ shaking as a result of the earthquake, which could potentially result in moderate to heavy damage. “Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are highly vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though some resistant structures exist,” it said.

The agency further estimated that around 50,000 people likely perceived strong shaking, while around 4.5 million others likely perceived light to moderate shaking.

The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the earthquake, which lasted around 10 seconds, destroyed scores of homes and left at least 105 people injured. Widespread outages were also reported.

“There were no immediate reports of any fatalities as a result of the earthquake,” said Torbat-e Heydarieh’s Governor Mojtaba Sadeqian. “However, it is believed that a large number of people are trapped under the rubble, and the casualties are expected to be high.”

Sadeqian said that in some parts of the city, more than 80 percent of the buildings had been destroyed.

Small and moderate earthquakes sometimes cause heavy damage in certain parts of the country due to poor construction. In November 2009, a light 4.9-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, injuring more than 700 people.

And in 2003, at least 25,000 people where killed when a 6.7 earthquake struck near Bam in Kerman province of southeastern Iran.

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