TEHRAN — At least 153 people were killed Saturday when two powerful earthquakes struck several towns near the Iranian city of Tabriz, the Fars news agency reported, quoting government officials. Hassan Ghadami, the deputy interior minister, estimated that at least 700 were injured.
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As rescuers searched through the rubble, the head of the country’s emergency services, Gholamreza Masoumi, told the semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency that 400 of the injured had been taken to Tabriz, a provincial capital and home to Iran’s Azeri Turkish-speaking minority.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the quakes struck in quick succession, with the more powerful one measuring a magnitude of 6.4. Iranian news media reported that the epicenters were near four smaller cities north of Tabriz: Ahar, Heris, Mehraban and Varzaqan.
“We just wandered around the city and everybody is in a panic,” said a woman reached at the state telephone company in Ahar, a city of about 85,000. “Thank God we have not seen any dead people, but buildings are damaged.”
Officials were urging people to spend the night outside, and television showed images of people sitting in parks and of chandeliers shaking in living rooms.
Telephone lines were mostly cut, and cellphone services were not working in the stricken areas. In Tabriz, traffic lights were working and shops were open, one witness said over the telephone.
Iran lies on several main fault lines, and experts say Tehran could be hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7 or higher.
In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck the southern city of Bam, killing about 25,000 people.
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As rescuers searched through the rubble, the head of the country’s emergency services, Gholamreza Masoumi, told the semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency that 400 of the injured had been taken to Tabriz, a provincial capital and home to Iran’s Azeri Turkish-speaking minority.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the quakes struck in quick succession, with the more powerful one measuring a magnitude of 6.4. Iranian news media reported that the epicenters were near four smaller cities north of Tabriz: Ahar, Heris, Mehraban and Varzaqan.
“We just wandered around the city and everybody is in a panic,” said a woman reached at the state telephone company in Ahar, a city of about 85,000. “Thank God we have not seen any dead people, but buildings are damaged.”
Officials were urging people to spend the night outside, and television showed images of people sitting in parks and of chandeliers shaking in living rooms.
Telephone lines were mostly cut, and cellphone services were not working in the stricken areas. In Tabriz, traffic lights were working and shops were open, one witness said over the telephone.
Iran lies on several main fault lines, and experts say Tehran could be hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7 or higher.
In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck the southern city of Bam, killing about 25,000 people.