Earthquake shakes Tehran, a city with already frayed nerves
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Tehran sits on or near several major fault lines and occasionally is hit with earthquakes.
PHOTO: AFP
Farnaz Fassihi
- A moderate earthquake (magnitude 4.3-4.6) struck Tehran on May 12, causing widespread alarm but no reported casualties or major damage.
- Some residents, already anxious amid a tenuous ceasefire between US and Iran, mistook the quake for an attack, with many evacuating homes.
- Rescue teams were dispatched and on high alert, with two aftershocks recorded.
AI generated
An earthquake on May 12 shook Tehran, a city on edge after months of war, with residents across the metropolis saying the ground jolted and rolled around midnight.
Tehran, the sprawling capital of Iran with 15 million residents, sits on or near several major fault lines and occasionally is hit with earthquakes. Though the earthquake was moderate in magnitude, and no casualties or major damage have been reported, it still shocked many of the city’s residents.
Tehran resident Saboor said: “We shook as if we were in a swing.”
State media put the tremor at magnitude 4.6, about 10 km deep, while the US Geological Survey registered it as 4.3, and the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre at 4.5.
Earthquakes in that range can damage buildings that are not up to advanced structural standards.
Iran’s state television said two aftershocks were registered at magnitudes of 4 and 3.4 in the same area.
Mr Morteza Rezaei, the deputy head of Red Crescent for Tehran province, told state television that no casualties or major damage had been reported so far, but rescue teams within the epicentre’s radius were dispatched and placed on high alert.
“We have had no reports of damage and destruction and no roadblocks in the areas,” Mr Rezaei said.
“I recommend people remain calm if something unfortunate happens,” he said, adding they should call emergency rescue numbers for help.
Earlier on May 12, a small earthquake was reported in the Pardis area near Tehran. State media said the towns in the immediate vicinity of the earthquake, around midnight, were Pardis, Bumhen, Rudehehn and the cities of Tehran and Karaj.
In the north-eastern part of the city, Ali, a resident of the area, said that when the earthquake hit, many of his neighbours had rushed to the street in their pyjamas, carrying their blankets.
State media also said in the Pardis area, near the epicentre, residents had evacuated their homes and taken shelter in their cars and in parks.
Pictures and videos on state television from Pardis showed families with children sleeping on blankets on the side of the road and several people praying. There was also bumper-to-bumper traffic as people took to their cars.
Residents said their nerves were already frayed as they are hanging in limbo of neither peace nor all-out war, wondering if a tenuous ceasefire will collapse and the United States and Israel will strike again.
Sara, a 54-year-old resident of Tehran, said her apartment tower in northern Tehran swayed, and she panicked.
“I was sitting at the kitchen table and suddenly felt as if the chair was being pulled from under me,” she said in a voice message from Tehran. “I thought, ‘I’m having a dizzy spell’ then noticed the chandeliers swinging. I thought it was an attack – earthquake was the last thing on our minds.”
Some Iranians with internet access posted on social media that the jolts reminded them of the war and rattled their nerves.
“When the earthquake hit, I jumped off the bed and ran into the hallway. Then I remembered that was for the war,” Iranian Elham Nazari said in a social media post. NYTIMES
