W Iran town hit by two strong earthquakes

At least two strong earthquakes have jolted the border town of Qasr-e Shirin in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah, but no casualties have yet been reported.

According to the University of Tehran Institute of Geophysics, the strongest quake, which took place on Sunday, measured 5.7 on the Richter scale.

The area has been witnessing numerous tremors in the past days. Another strong earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale struck the town on Friday.

Several homes have been damaged and many people remain outdoors as a precautionary measure.

Iran sits on several major fault lines and is prone to frequent quakes.

A major quake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale shook a sparsely-populated rural area between the cities of Saravan and Khash in the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province at a depth of 95 kilometers on April 16. The quake was unprecedented in the past 50 years.

Another strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale rocked the town of Kaki, some 90 kilometers southeast of Bushehr, on April 9, at a depth of 12 kilometers. At least 37 people were killed and more than 1,050 others injured. The quake also destroyed 3,100 houses.