Great
Earthquakes In Diverse Places
Earthquake jolts western Iran, injures 8
(AP)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An earthquake jolted a small town in western
Iran near the Iraqi border on Thursday, injuring eight people and
damaging buildings, Iranian media reported.
The magnitude 5.5 quake hit the sparsely populated area near the
town of Mourmouri, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) southwest of
the capital Tehran, at 2:39 p.m., said the semiofficial Mehr news
agency.
The report said the quake sent people rushing out of their homes
in Mourmouri and that scores of buildings were damaged in nearby
towns of Abdanan and Dehloran.
The area has experienced dozens of earthquakes over the past few
weeks.
Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to
earthquakes, experiencing at least one slight quake a day on
average.
In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake
that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.