According to Iranian media reports, an earthquake measuring magnitude 5.6 on the Richter scale hit a southern Iranian province, killing at least one person and injuring more than 30 others. The quake struck 22 kilometers (14 miles) northeast of Kish Island in Hormozgan province at around 8 A.M. local time and struck at a depth of 22 kilometers (14 miles), according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. In the nearby UAE, residents also felt the tremors of the earthquake. In the UAE, no damage was reported from the earthquake, according to the official Emirates News Agency WAM.
The head of the Kish Island Hospital, Mostafa Nadealinejad, reported that four people had fractured bones as a result of falling in the aftermath of the earthquake. Following a fall from the third floor of a building, one person sustained a concussion, a fracture, and bleeding. Despite performing surgery in the operating room, one patient succumbed to his injuries. He died as a result of the severity of his injuries. The majority of the 31 people who were injured suffered minor injuries while attempting to flee the area.
In the Arabian Gulf lies Kish Island, which is 1,025 kilometers (some 640 miles) south of Tehran. The region has been shook by weaker temblors several times in the last 10 days, officials said. Iran lies on major seismic faults and suffers one earthquake a day on average. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastated 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.