Tehran: A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake and subsequent aftershocks killed as many as 87 people and injured 600 others in Iran’s north-western provinces.
“According to the latest reports, about 87 people have been killed in the quakes today … About 600 have also been injured and were transported to Tabriz and Ardebil,” ISNA news agency quoted Gholamreza Masoumi, the head of the country’s emergency services, as saying.
The temblors, which struck near Tabriz, home to 1.5 million people, measured 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale, according to Tehran University’s Seismological Centre, AFP reported.
However, the US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.
Tehran University’s Seismological Centre said the first earthquake hit at 4.53 pm (1223 GMT) with an epicentre just 60 kilometres from Tabriz, close to the town of Ahar, and a depth of 10 kilometres.
The second – a big aftershock – rumbled through just 11 minutes later from nearly the same spot. A series of 11 smaller aftershocks, rating 4.7 or below, rapidly followed.
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