A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck the city of Khoy in northwest Iran has left at least three people dead and hundreds injured.
According to Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian, the governor of the West Azerbaijan province, there were at least 816 injuries, some of which required medical attention in neighboring provinces.
The largest earthquake occurred late on Saturday at a depth of 7km (4.3 miles), and it was felt in Urmia as well as a number of neighboring regions. Since then, there have been more than 40 aftershocks recorded, the largest of which had a magnitude of 4.2.
As a result of the earthquakes, damage was reportedly done to local structures and some infrastructure, particularly residential buildings in the dozens of villages surrounding Khoy, some of which also had power outages.
In the previous few months, the city had been subjected to a number of lesser but still considerable earthquakes that did not result in any fatalities and did not cause extensive damage.
The authorities have tried to strengthen vulnerable residential buildings, with the governor saying the efforts worked and damages were only reported in areas where buildings were older and not fortified.
The streets in Khoy filled with traffic late on Saturday as residents abandoned their homes. Since then, a large number of people have been stationed in temporary tents in the bitterly cold winter weather.
According to Babak Mahmoudi, the head of the country’s Relief and Rescue Organization, two planeloads of relief left Mehrabad Airport in Tehran just after midnight, while hundreds of trucks loaded with rescue supplies left for Khoy from neighboring provinces.
Author- Roberta Appiah
