3,518 injured in Iran's 5.5-magnitude quake
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E-mail Xinhua, May 4, 2012
The 5.5-magnitude earthquake in Iran- Iraq border on Thursday has injured 3,518 people, the semi- official Mehr news agency reported Friday.
The chief of Rescue and Relief Organization Mahmoud Mozaffar said that in the earthquake in Iran's Ilam province bordering Iraq, 3,518 people were injured and 50 villages were damaged between 30 to 80 percent, said the report.
Also, the governor of Abdanan city in Ilam told Mehr that there has been no fatal casualties in the earthquake but two villages in Murmuri region were totally ruined.
At 02:09 p.m. local time (GMT 1039) on Thursday, an earthquake with the epicenter at the depth of 10.00 km, 32.74 degrees north latitude and 47.61 degrees east longitude, jolted the Murmuri region in Iran's Ilam.
Iran, including its capital Tehran, sits astride several major fault lines in the earth crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes. Moderate quakes sometimes caused huge damages in some regions due to poor construction.
The deadliest earthquake to hit Iran in recent years happened on Dec. 26, 2003, when a 6.6 magnitude quake struck Bam city and the surrounding areas in Kerman province. The earthquake left more than 26,000 people dead and some 30,000 injured.
Some Iranian officials have suggested moving the capital from Tehran to other places. The idea is not something new, and related preliminary planning was done in late 1980s and again in early 1990s.
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