Mon 08 July 2019:
IRAN has been rocked by a massive 5.7-magnitude earthquake which killed at least one person and devastated building and streets, according to local media.
Iran’s seismology centre said a big 5.7-magnitude quake shook the southern part of the country on Monday. The tremor is believed to have killed at least one person and injured four more, according to the local media. The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected a 5.6-magnitude tremor. The earthquake struck 84 km (52 miles) east of the Iranian city of Ahvaz – a town in the Khuzestan province which hosts the third-largest oil field in the world. The Iranian state TV said rescue teams were deployed to surrounding rural areas as well as the cities to help those in need.
The quake has been felt as far away as Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Many, scared by the earthquake, took to social media to express their concerns. One Twitter user living in Kuwait City, 331 km (205 miles) southwest from the epicentre, said: “Our building was kind of shaking and felt it clearly.” Hawally, also in Kuwait, added: “Laying in bed. Felt the bed shake as if someone was shaking it.
“Light fixtures hanging from the ceiling were visibly moving.” Iran is located on major seismic faults and experiences one earthquake per day on average. A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in 2003 devastated the historic city of Bam, in southern Iran, and killed 26,000 people.
This earthquake comes as the world is experiencing a series of strong tremors. California, which lies on the notorious San Andreas fault, has been recently shaken by a 6.4 and a 7.1 earthquake within just a week – sparking fear the so-called Big One may be coming. The Big One is a massive quake forecasted by experts, likely to devastate the whole region. While geologists agree it will strike and it is “overdue”, they don’t know when it will occur – making it more difficult for Californians to prepare for it.
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