Strong Earthquake Strikes Near Sarpol-e Zahab, Iran; Dozens of Injuries Reprted

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Iran near its border with Iraq, said the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), injuring at least 170 people, with reports suggesting that more casualties are feared.

The quake struck at a depth of about 6 miles and about 12 miles south-southwest of Sarpol-e Zahab, Kermanshah province, the agency said.

Iranian rescue teams were dispatched to the area following the quake, but no casualties have been reported so far, according to Qatari-funded Al Jazeerea TV, citing Iranian state-run media.

Around 170 people were hurt in the province, The Associated Press reported.

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Iran near its border with Iraq, said the U.S. Geological Survey , injuring at least 170 people and reports suggest that more casualties are feared. (USGS)USGS

“No reports of any fatalities yet and most of the injured were hurt while fleeing, not due to quake damage,” Pirhossein Koulivand, head of the state emergency services, was quoted as saying by the TV network, Reuters reported.

Morteza Salimi of Iran’s Red Crescent said the area was reconstructed during last year’s deadly earthquake. He says there are fears of more casualties.

“The quake was not near bigger cities. But it might have caused damage in villages and I hope not that many villages are located where it hit,” said Ali Moradi, head of Iran’s seismology agency, Al Jazeera reported. Last year’s quake killed more than 600 people and left many homeless, AP noted.

Buildings and some roadways in Kermanshah province were damaged by the tremor, according to AP. The quake was felt as far away as Baghdad, Iraq.

Last year’s earthquake near Sarpol-e Zahab, a predominantly Kurdish town, had a magnitude of 7.3 and injured more than 9,000 people. The region, nestled in the Zagros Mountains, largely rebuilt in recent decades after Iran and Iraq’s ruinous 1980s war, saw many buildings collapse or sustain major damage in the 2017 quake, AP reported.

Sarpol-e Zahab, some 520 kilometers (325 miles) southwest of the Iranian capital of Tehran, suffered half of the 2017 temblor’s casualties.

In August 2012, two strong quakes, measuring magnitude 6.4 and 6.3 respectively, killed at least 300 people near the city of Tabriz in northwestern Iran, Reuters reported.

After the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the next most seismic region is the Alpide belt that “extends from Mediterranean region, eastward through Turkey, Iran, and northern India,” the USGS says. Around 5 to 6 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur along the Alpide belt region Public Domain

After the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the next most seismic region is the Alpide belt that “extends from Mediterranean region, eastward through Turkey, Iran, and northern India,” the USGS says. Around 5 to 6 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur along the Alpide belt region.

The Alpide Belt also “passes through the Mediterranean region eastward through Asia and joins the Circum-Pacific Belt in the East Indies. The energy released in earthquakes from this belt is about 15 percent of the world total,” says the Encyclopedia Britannica. “There also are striking connected belts of seismic activity, mainly along oceanic ridges—including those in the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the western Indian Ocean—and along the rift valleys of East Africa. This global seismicity distribution is best understood in terms of its plate tectonic setting.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.