BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 18. A total of 20 people were injured as a result of the earthquake which has occurred at 13:38 (GMT +3:30) in the Khoy County of West Azerbaijan province in north-western Iran, the country’s governor Zabihollah Kazemi told reporters, Trend reports.
Kazemi noted that the injured people are being taken to the county hospital.
He added that 15 villages were affected by the earthquake, without any deaths.
The 5.4-magnitude earthquake’s epicenter was recorded at a depth of 10 kilometers.
Besides, the Republican Seismological Service Center of Azerbaijan said that the quake was also felt in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, having been recorded at 14:08 (GMT+4), 90 km south of the Nakhchivan seismology station.
Iran is located in a seismically active zone. The most deadly earthquake in the country's history took place in 1990 in Gilan province, when from 35,000 to 50,000 people were killed.
The earthquake with the highest magnitude (7.5) over the past six years was recorded in 2017 in Kermanshah province, as a result of which 630 people died and 8,435 were injured.
In recent months, a string of high and medium-intensity earthquakes hit provinces in southern and northern Iran.
In December 2022, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake rocked northeastern Iran's South Khorasan province, weeks after a 5.4 magnitude quake was reported in the same province, with its epicenter in the Ersk region.
In July last year, at least five people were killed and more than 80 injured after a 6.1 magnitude quake struck the southern province of Hormozgan situated along the coast of the Persian Gulf.