Magnitude 5.9 earthquake shakes southwestern Iran in area of nuclear site

TEHRAN, Iran — A magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook southwestern Iran along the Persian Gulf on Sunday, followed by at least three moderate-strength aftershocks, state TV reported.

At least one person was injured, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.

State TV shared mobile phone pictures of collapsed walls and cracked homes in the area of the port city of Bandar Genaveh, the temblor’s epicenter.

Video shot by a bystander at a construction site near Bandar Genaveh appeared to show landslides in nearby foothills. Both state TV and the semiofficial Tasnim news agency rebroadcast the footage.

Images show houses damaged in a village near Bandar Genaveh in southern #Iran following 5.9 gratitude earthquake. Rescue squads have been dispatched to the area. No report on casualties or extent of damage yet. Aftershocks have been reported in Bandar Genaveh. pic.twitter.com/dZtKOINOYm

— Habib Abdolhossein (@HAbdolhossein) April 18, 2021
Three aftershocks of a magnitude 4 followed the initial quake, the report said.

The US Geological Survey called the initial temblor a 5.8 magnitude earthquake. It said its depth was 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

A magnitude 5 earthquake can cause considerable damage. Such shallow earthquakes as Sunday’s also can result in broader damage.

The quake was some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant. There was no immediate report on the plant, though the facility was constructed to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 8.

Iran is on major seismic faults and experiences one earthquake a day on average. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake flattened the historic city of Bam, killing 26,000 people.

A magnitude 7 earthquake that struck western Iran in 2017 killed more than 600 people and injured more than 9,000.