Magnitude 5.1 Quake Jolts Western Iran


Magnitude 5.1 Quake Jolts Western Iran

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale struck Iran’s western province of Kermanshah on Sunday.

The temblor hit an area near the city of Gilan-e Gharb at 1:46 pm (local time).

Kourosh Mahmoudian, the city’s governor general, said there have been no casualties reported yet.

He added that assessment teams have been dispatched to the affected areas and the crisis management committee is on full alert.

According to the official, the situation in Gilan-e Gharb is normal and people are carrying on with their life now.

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.

On November 12, 2017, the western province of Kermanshah was hit by a major 7.3-magnitude quake that killed 620 people.

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.

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