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Earthquake leaves at least 260 injured in Iran

18 August 2014 [14:25] - TODAY.AZ
An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale left at least 260 persons injured in the western Iranian province of Ilam on Aug 18, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

Ahmad Karami, head of the Provincial Disaster Management Organization said that the health condition of thirteen of the injured is critical.

The tremor occurred at 7:02 local time (GMT +4:30 hours) in the city of Mormouri, according to a report from the seismography center affiliated with Tehran University Geophysics Institute.
The earthquake's epicentre was located at 47.695 degrees longitude and 32.7 degrees latitude and at a depth of 10 kilometers underground.

Yesterday several quakes, the biggest measuring 4.8, jolted the region and the people were outside their homes when the today morning's strong tremor happened, Ilam Governor-general Mohammad Reza Morvarid said, Iran's State IRINN TV reported.

Morvarid went on to add that relief teams were dispatched to the area to help the victims.
Water, electricity and communication lines were cut in the region as a result of the earthquake which was also felt in neighboring provinces.

Reportedly, more than 50 percent of houses in the village have been devastated because of the quake. Over 70 percent of the infrastructure in city of Mormouri was damaged according to Majid Askari, a local official told Mehr news agency.

The region has been jolted 46 times since the main tremor, the strongest measuring 6 on the Richter scale was registered at 9:55 local time (GMT +4:30 hours), ISNA news agency reported.

Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating.

The deadliest quake in the country was in June 1990 and measured 7.7 on the Richter scale.
About 37,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 injured in the northwestern provinces of Gilan and Zanjan. It devastated around 27 towns and 1,870 villages.


/Trend/

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/136307.html

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