A magnitude 5 earthquake struck Kashmar in northeastern Iran’s Razavi Khorasan province at 1:24 pm on Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of four people and injuring 120 others, officials reported.
Governor Hojjatollah Shariatmadari confirmed the fatalities and noted that 35 of the injured have been hospitalized.
The US Geological Survey identified the quake’s epicenter as being five kilometers from Moghan, Razavi Khorasan Province, at a depth of six kilometers. Iranian media also confirmed the earthquake’s magnitude as 5.
Iran, situated on several major fault lines, frequently experiences earthquakes. Last November, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake near the Iraqi border led to over 530 deaths and thousands of injuries.
The United Nations estimates that Iran experiences approximately 10,000 earthquakes each year. The nation is still recovering from the 2003 Bam earthquake, which had a magnitude of 6.6 and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.
In a separate event last year, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Khoy in West Azerbaijan province, killing at least three people and injuring more than 800. The Mehr news agency reported that 70 villages were damaged in that incident.
