Iran hit by second quake in days

TEHRAN: A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit northwestern Iran on Thursday, only days after a deadly temblor struck near the border with Pakistan, media reported citing the seismological centre at Tehran University.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the latest quake which struck at 3:09pm (1039 GMT), at a depth of eight kilometres, in the town of Tassouj.

"So far there are no reports of damage... We are in touch with the prefect of Tassouj and local authorities stand ready," to deal with any crisis, ISNA news agency reported quoting Khalil Saiie, a local official from East Azerbaijan province.

A Red Crescent official, also quoted by ISNA, said there was no immediate information about any casualties in Tassouj, or in the towns of Maragheh and Shabestar which also felt the quake. It was followed by two low-intensity aftershocks.

Tassouj is located less than 100 kilometres from the provincial capital Tabriz, where the quake was also felt.

On Tuesday, a huge earthquake measuring 7.8 struck southeastern Iran killing a woman and injuring more than a dozen other people. At least 40 people were killed across the border in Pakistan where hundreds of mud homes were levelled.

Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.

Tuesday's earthquake was the strongest to hit Iran since 1957.

A double earthquake, one measuring 6.2 and the other 6.0, struck northwestern Iran last August, killing more than 300 people and injuring 3,000.

In December 2003, a massive quake struck the southern city of Bam. It killed 26,271 people – about a quarter of the population – and destroyed the city's ancient mud-built citadel.