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Two extremely dangerous earthquakes M6.4 and M6.3 struck northwestern Iran

two-extremely-dangerous-earthquakes-m6-4-and-m6-3-struck-northwestern-iran

Northwestern Iran was struck by two strong and very shallow earthquakes on August 11, 20102 within only 15 minutes. USGS recorded earthquake with magnitude 6.4 at 12:23 UTC and second with magnitude 6.3 at 12:34 UTC. Recorded depth of both earthquakes was about 9.9 km (6.2 miles). Both earthquakes struck approximately the same area 20 km (12 miles) WSW of Ahar, Iran at 38.322°N, 46.888°E.

City of Tabriz is only 60km (37 miles) from epicenter area with population of 1.4 million people.

EMSC recorded magnitude 6.2 and 6.1 at depth of 10 km.

According to USGS there were 6 recorded aftershocks with magnitude greater than 4; and 15 aftershocks with magnitude above 3.5 according to EMSC by 18:37 UTC.

 5.0   2012/08/11 15:43:19   38.275   46.617 10.0  NORTHWESTERN IRAN
 4.7   2012/08/11 15:21:15   38.315   46.793 10.0  NORTHWESTERN IRAN
 4.5   2012/08/11 14:25:15   38.039   46.644 10.0  NORTHWESTERN IRAN
 4.8   2012/08/11 13:14:07   38.359   46.725 10.0  NORTHWESTERN IRAN
 4.4 2012/08/11 13:05:55   38.606   46.986 10.0  NORTHWESTERN IRAN
 4.8   2012/08/11 12:49:18   38.209   46.756 10.0  NORTHWESTERN IRAN
 6.3   2012/08/11 12:34:35   38.324   46.759 9.8  NORTHWESTERN IRAN
 6.4   2012/08/11 12:23:18   38.322   46.888 9.9  NORTHWESTERN IRAN

 

By 20:00 UTC state run agencies reported that 180 people were killed and 1300 were injured. 6 villages have been almost completely destroyed. 60 villages have sustained 50%-80% damages by earlier reports. The earthquake has cut off the gas supply to 70 villages in the Ahar area.

Labor news agency ILNA reports that Rescue services admitted tonight that 10 to 20 villages in the epicenter area have not been reached yet. The power is down in the earthquake stricken area and as many roads are blocked Search and Rescue work will be very difficult.

Iranian officials have announced that the figures from the death and wounded will increase due to the critical condition of the wounded.

According to the report of Presidential Office website, the Iran cabinet members expressed their deep sorrow over the earthquake incident which has caused so many people to die, and expressed sympathy with victims’ families.  The government called on all natural disaster headquarters and responsible bodies to mobilize all their possibilities and releif equipment and provide quake-stricken areas with all kinds of necessary assistance. (ER)

Magnitude 6.4
Date-Time
  • Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 12:23:17 UTC
  • Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 03:53:17 PM at epicenter
Location 38.322°N, 46.888°E
Depth 9.9 km (6.2 miles)
Region NORTHWESTERN IRAN
Distances 20 km (12 miles) WSW of Ahar, Iran
60 km (37 miles) ENE of Tabriz, Iran
95 km (59 miles) E of Marand, Iran
100 km (62 miles) SSE of Kapan, Armenia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 13.6 km (8.5 miles); depth +/- 3.8 km (2.4 miles)
Parameters NST=448, Nph=452, Dmin=275 km, Rmss=1.21 sec, Gp= 36°,
M-type=(unknown type), Version=C
Source
  • Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usb000bupa

 

Magnitude 6.3
Date-Time
  • Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 12:34:35 UTC
  • Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 04:04:35 PM at epicenter
Location 38.324°N, 46.759°E
Depth 9.8 km (6.1 miles)
Region NORTHWESTERN IRAN
Distances 32 km (19 miles) WSW of Ahar, Iran
48 km (29 miles) ENE of Tabriz, Iran
86 km (53 miles) E of Marand, Iran
96 km (59 miles) NNW of Hashtrud, Iran
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 14 km (8.7 miles); depth +/- 4 km (2.5 miles)
Parameters NST=509, Nph=509, Dmin=267.2 km, Rmss=1.01 sec, Gp= 22°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=9
Source
  • Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usb000buph

Shake map

Pager map

Selected Cities Exposed from GeoNames Database of Cities with 1,000 or more residents.

MMI City Population
VII Ahar 94k
V Tabriz 1,425k
V Mincivan 6k
V Meghri 5k
V Icari 7k
V Hashtrud 17k
V Kapan 33k
V Ardabil 411k
IV Agcabadi 35k
IV Yeghegnadzor 0
IV Kalbacar 0

 

Historic seismicity since 1900

Historic seismicity since Jan 2012

Iran – major faultlines

 

Sources: USGS, EMSC, Earthquake-report

More information is coming in. This page will be updated accordingly.

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5 Comments

  1. I have been waiting for that for a while now. The HAARP Facilities must have stored up enough Energy in the upper Ionosphere, so it just took a while,but it looks like it is working and they finally achieved directional Control.
    Look out for many more to come,however they will not create a Tsunami as in Japan.
    So it will take much more intensity to produce the intended effects.

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