At 2:20 in the morning, the earth shook: at least five people were killed in an earthquake in Iran on the night of Friday. At least 120 more were injured, according to the security authorities. The state television spoke of a "moderate" quake.
According to the Seismological Center at the University of Tehran, the magnitude of the earthquake was 5.9. The center of the quake was therefore eight kilometers deep, about 120 kilometers southeast of the city Tabris in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan.
Accordingly, there were four aftershocks, the strength was between 4.1 and 4.8. The US earthquake wardens had previously warned that it was to be expected "significant casualties".
Iran is on several tectonic fault lines, which is why it regularly comes to earthquakes. In November 2017, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the western province of Kermanshah killed 620 people. In 2003, the old city of Bam was destroyed in a quake of magnitude 6.6. 31,000 people died at that time.