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| People sit next to a destroyed home after an earthquake in Sayeh Khosh village in Hormozgan, Iran, July 2, 2022. ISNA/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS |
At least five people were killed by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in southern Iran early on Saturday, state media reported, with the area also hit by two later strong quakes of up to 6.3 magnitude.
โFive people have died in the earthquake โฆ and so far 12 are hospitalised,โ Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of emergency management in Hormozgan Province on Iranโs Gulf coast, told state TV. โRescue work has been carried out and we are now providing tents as emergency housing.โ
The state news agency IRNA said a magnitude 6.3 earthquake and a magnitude 6.1 quake followed the 6.1 quake that flattened the village of Sayeh Khosh near Iranโs Gulf coast. There were more than a dozen aftershocks.
โAll of the victims died in the first earthquake and no-one was harmed in the next two severe quakes as people were already outside their homes,โ said Foad Moradzadeh, governor of Bandar Lengeh country, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.
Major geological fault lines crisscross Iran, which has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 quake in Kerman province killed 31,000 people and flattened the ancient city of Bam.
