Three strong earthquakes followed by several aftershocks have jolted western Iran, killing at least 66 people and injuring at least 988, state media reported on Friday.
The initial quake of magnitude 4,7 struck a mountainous region in western Iran late on Thursday. It was followed by a quake of magnitude 5,1 that struck Boroujerd and Doroud, two industrial cities in western Iran, at 11.06pm local time on Thursday, state television reported.
A third temblor of magnitude six hit Doroud and surrounding villages at 4.47am local time on Friday, the television reported.
Nabi Bidhendi, head of Tehran University’s Geophysics Institute, told the television that 12 aftershocks had been registered since the first quake.
The epicentre was in the mountainous villages south of Boroujerd and north of Doroud in western Iran.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 5,7-magnitude quake at 4.47am, followed by a 4,7-magnitude quake 15 minutes later. Their epicentres were 340km south-west of Tehran.
The area had been hit by a 4,7-magnitude quake the day before, the USGS said.
State-run television said most of the people injured were in bed when the quake struck.
Provincial official Ali Barani said several villages have been flattened.
Barani told news agency Irna that rescue teams have been sent to the region to help the survivors. The injured have been taken to hospitals in Boroujerd and Doroud, he said.
Doroud governor Nasrollah Rashno told Irna that the quake has damaged buildings in rural areas and cut telephone lines.
The earthquake was classified as moderate, but such quakes have killed thousands of people in the past in the Iranian countryside where houses are often built of bricks.
The quake in the middle of the night caused panic, with citizens in Doroud running out of their homes. Many spent the night in open space, residents said.
”We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night,” Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri said by telephone.
Chaharmiri said there were no scenes of destruction in Doroud as those seen in the past in the wake of similar quakes in other regions of Iran.
In February 2005, a 6,4-magnitude quake rocked the town of Zarand in southern Iran, killing 612 people and injuring more than 1 400.
A magnitude-6,6 quake flattened the historic south-eastern city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26 000 people.
Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences at least one slight earthquake every day on average. — Sapa-AP