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TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — A sequence of robust earthquakes rocked southern Iran on Saturday, killing no less than 5 individuals, injuring over 90 others and lowering a complete village to rubble.
The quakes, together with two of magnitude 6.0, struck west of the key port metropolis of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province, the US Geological Survey mentioned.
The primary rattled an space north of the city of Dezhgan shortly after 2:00 am (2130 GMT), earlier than a 5.7 tremor hit two hours later adopted shortly by the second 6.0 magnitude quake, the USGS mentioned.
5 individuals had been killed, Hormozgan governor Mehdi Dousti mentioned, quoted by official information company IRNA.
Dousti advised state tv that the village of Sayeh Khosh, near the epicentre, had been “fully destroyed”.
“Ninety-three individuals had been injured, of whom solely seven are nonetheless in hospital for remedy,” nationwide emergency companies spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi advised state tv.
The broadcaster confirmed footage of residential buildings diminished to rubble in Sayeh Khosh, which was plunged into darkness in an influence outage.
In one other video, a household was seen sifting by way of particles and making an attempt to recuperate their belongings, as a lady was heard screaming within the background.
Ambulances and different automobiles tried to navigate roads lined in rubble as shocked residents wandered by way of the streets.
Individuals spent the evening outside within the provincial capital Bandar Abbas — with a inhabitants of greater than 500,000, positioned about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the epicentre — as lengthy queues shaped at fuel stations there, state media reported.
Inside Minister Ahmad Vahidi visited Hormozgan province and advised state tv that restoring water and electrical energy had been among the many authorities’s high priorities.
– Historical past of lethal quakes –
Iran’s Purple Crescent Society mentioned within the morning that search and rescue operations had been practically over.
“We’re concentrating on housing the victims of the earthquake,” Hormozgan governor Dousti advised state tv.
A provincial heritage official advised IRNA the quake broken 50 historic windmills on Qeshm island, positioned simply off the coast.
Iran sits astride the boundaries of a number of main tectonic plates and experiences frequent seismic exercise.
The Islamic republic’s deadliest quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 that killed 40,000 individuals within the north, injured 300,000 and left half one million homeless.
In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake in southeastern Iran levelled the traditional mud-brick metropolis of Bam and killed no less than 31,000 individuals.
In November 2017, a 7.3-magnitude quake in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah killed 620 individuals.
In December 2019 and January 2020, two earthquakes struck close to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear energy plant.
Iran’s Gulf Arab neighbours have raised considerations in regards to the reliability of the nation’s sole nuclear energy facility, which produces 1,000 megawatts of energy, and the danger of radioactive leaks in case of a serious earthquake.
In February 2020, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake in northwestern Iran killed 9 individuals, together with youngsters, in neighbouring Turkey and injured dozens on each side of the border.
One individual was killed in November final yr when Hormozgan province was hit by twin 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude quakes.
© Agence France-Presse
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