Move FM Global News

TEHRAN, Iran – The Iranian city of Javanrud was struck by a strong 6.1 magnitude earthquake early on Sunday, which left two people dead and 241 others injured.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the shallow quake was measured at 6.1 magnitude and struck about 55 miles west-northwest of the Kermanshah province.

However, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said that the quake was measured at 5.9 magnitude and hit 26 kms southwest of the city of Javanrud.

The report cited officials as saying that the majority of the casualties were in the city of Tazehabad, northeast of Kermanshah.

Kermanshah governor was quoted as saying that a crisis centre had been set up and all hospitals and relief organizations were placed on alert. 

Further, Tasnim quoted Saeb Sharidari, the head of the emergency department Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences as saying that two people were killed and 241 people injured.

Sharidari added that the two deaths included a pregnant woman and a 70-year-old man who died of a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the U.S.G.S. said that the quake struck western Iran near the border with Iraq, pointing out that its epicenter was near the site of the devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake that left hundreds of people dead in November last year. 

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Iranian news agency confirmed, that two aftershocks, above 3.0 magnitude were experienced in the country. 

Further, the Iraqi state media has confirmed that no casualties were reported, after the initial strong quake was felt as far away as Baghdad.

Later in the day, Mohammad Reza Amirian, the provincial head of the Red Crescent said in a statement that there had been at least 21 aftershocks.

Iran sits on several major fault lines in the earth’s crust and is, therefore, more prone to regular earthquakes. 

In recent years, the country has experienced at least two other major disasters.

In 2005, a disastrous quake killed more than 600 people.

Another quake was recorded in 2012 that left about 300 people dead.

Iran’s worst quake in recent years was a 6.6-magnitude tremor that struck near Bam in 2003.

The quake decimated the ancient city, killed at least 31,000 people, left a similar number of people injured and displaced close to 75,000 people.

Before that, in 1990, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in northern Iran killed 40,000 people, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless.

It reduced dozens of towns and nearly 2,000 villages to rubble.

More recently, in November last year, the country experienced its deadliest earthquake in more than a decade after a major 7.3 magnitude tremor struck villages and towns in Kermanshah province, along the mountainous border with Iraq.

The quake killed at least 620 people and left thousands of others injured.