Iran earthquake: Magnitude 5.1 quake rocks same region where 600 killed in November

Tremors strike at shallow depth

The quake's epicentre (USGS)

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake has rocked Iran‘s western province of Kermanshah, the country’s media is reporting.

The quake hit the Kurdish town of Sarpol-e Zahab, around 320 miles west of Tehran on Saturday, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

It reported the earthquake’s depth as five miles – a relatively shallow level which usually leads to more damage – but there were no immediate reports on damages or casualties.

“Fortunately, after all the checks that have been made in the area, there are no reports yet of any damage or casualties,” Kermanshah province governor Houshang Bazvand told state television.

Earlier in November, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck western Iran, killing more than 600 and injuring more than 9,000.

Sarpol-e Zahab suffered half of the temblor’s casualties.

Across the border in Iraq, the earthquake killed at least nine people and injured 550 others, all in the country’s northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to its Interior Ministry.

More than 400 aftershocks have struck since, leaving even those with homes to return to afraid to retrieve their belongings.

Iran, which sits on several geological fault lines, is prone to earthquakes and suffers a quake per day on average.

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake flattened the historic city of Bam in south Iran and killed 26,000 people in 2003.

Additional reporting by agencies