TEHRAN, Iran — According to the first official state television reports, an earthquake on Friday (08 November 2019) in northwestern Iran, killed four people and injured 70.

The Iranian Seismological said, in the early hours of the morning, a shallow of 5.9 magnitude quake struck about 120 kilometers (75 miles) of the city of Tabriz, in the East Azerbaijan Province.

The quake, described as “moderate”, was eight kilometers (five miles) deep and was followed by four aftershocks.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued an alert warning that “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread”.

Iran sits where two major tectonic plates meet and experiences frequent seismic activity.

In recent decades, the country has experienced a number of major disasters, including in the ancient city of Bam, which was destroyed in 2003 by a massive earthquake that killed at least 31,000 people.

A 7.4-magnitude quake in northern Iran killed 40,000 people in 1990, wounded 300,000 and left half a million homeless, reducing to rubble dozens of cities and almost 2,000 villages.

In recent years, Iran has experienced at least two other significant quakes — one in 2005 that killed more than 600 people and another in 2012 that killed about 300 people in northwestern Iran has killed three people and injured 20.

The Iranian Seismological said, in the early hours of the morning, a shallow of 5.9 magnitude quake struck about 120 kilometers (75 miles) of the city of Tabriz, in the East Azerbaijan Province.

The quake, described as “moderate”, was eight kilometers (five miles) deep and was followed by four aftershocks.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued an alert warning that “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread”.

Iran sits where two major tectonic plates meet and experiences frequent seismic activity.

In recent decades, the country has experienced a number of major disasters, including in the ancient city of Bam, which was destroyed in 2003 by a massive earthquake that killed at least 31,000 people.

A 7.4-magnitude quake in northern Iran killed 40,000 people in 1990, wounded 300,000 and left half a million homeless, reducing to rubble dozens of cities and almost 2,000 villages.

In recent years, Iran has experienced at least two other significant quakes — one in 2005 that killed more than 600 people and another in 2012 that killed about 300 people. (From the Web/Marian Andrei Sinamban/IAMIGO/CNS)