List of earthquakes in Iran

Earthquakes in Iran from 1990 to 2006, by United States Geological Survey

Iran Faults

Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major faults that cover at least 90% of the country. ^[1] As a result, earthquakes in Iran occur often and are destructive.

Geology and history

The Iranian plateau is subject to most types of tectonic activity, including active folding, faulting and volcanic eruptions. It is well known for its long history of disastrous earthquake activity. Not only have these earthquakes killed thousands, but they have also led to waste of valuable natural resources. ^[2] Since 1900, at least 126,000 fatalities have resulted from earthquakes in Iran. ^[2] In addition, the Iranian plate is bordered by the Indian plate (to the southeast), the Eurasian plate (to the north), and the Arabian plate (to the south and west), which is where the Zagros fold and thrust belt (an ancient subduction zone) lies.

Present danger

On Sunday, December 28, 2025, Iranian news media reported the occurrence of an earthquake in the northeastern province of Tehran. ^[3] They also published a report indicating that in the event of a major earthquake in Greater Tehran, 73% of all highways and roads would be damaged beyond repair, making all rescue operations impossible. ^[3] The reaction of Mehdi Chamran, Chairman of the Tehran City Council: “We hope and pray to God that an earthquake does not occur; otherwise, we will face a major problem.” ^[3] Parviz Sorouri, Vice Chairman of the Tehran City Council, said: “Tehran is located on active fault lines, and this is undeniable. In the event of a severe earthquake in Tehran, we may face an unprecedented or nearly unprecedented catastrophe in world history.” ^[3] Recently, Ali Beitollahi, Head of the Engineering Seismology and Seismic Risk Department at the Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Center, said: “The phenomenon of land subsidence is increasingly developing across Iran and threatens 40 percent of the country’s population.” ^[3]

Earthquakes

Date	Province	Mag.	MMI	Deaths	Injuries	Total damage / notes	Citations
2024-06-18	Razavi Khorasan	4.9 mb		4	120	Severe damage	[4] [5]
2023-03-24	West Azerbaijan	5.6 Mw	VIII		165	Severe damage	[6]
2023-01-28	West Azerbaijan	5.9 Mw	VII	3	1,750	Widespread damage	[7]
2023-01-18	West Azerbaijan	5.7 Mw	VI		252	Severe damage	[8]
2022-10-05	West Azerbaijan	5.6 Mw	VII		1,127	Severe damage	[9]
2022-07-23	Hormozgan	5.6 Mw	VII		1	Minor damage	[10] [11]
2022-07-03	Gilan	4.1 mb			1	Minor damage	[12] [13] [14]
2022-07-01	Hormozgan	6.0 Mw	VII	7	111	Severe damage / doublet	[15] [16]
2022-06-25	Hormozgan	5.6 Mw	VII	1	37		[17]
2022-04-23	Fars	4.4 mb	VI		1	Minor damage	[18] [19]
2022-03-20	Fars	4.7 mb	VII		2	Minor damage	[20] [21]
2022-03-16	Hormozgan	5.9 Mw	VII		2	Minor damage	[22] [23]
2022-01-23	East Azerbaijan	4.0 mb	VII		1		[24]
2021-11-14	Hormozgan	6.4 Mw	IX	2	98	Doublet	[25] [26]
2020-05-07	Tehran	4.6 mb	V	2	38		[27] [28]
2020-02-23	West Azerbaijan	5.8 Mw	VII	10	125		[29]
2019-11-07	East Azerbaijan	5.9 Mw	VII	7	584		[30]
2019-07-08	Khuzestan	5.6 Mw	VII	1	100		[31]
2018-11-25	Kermanshah	6.3 Mw	VI	1	761	Aftershock	[32]
2018-08-25	Kermanshah	6.0 Mw	VII	3	243	Aftershock	[33]
2017-12-20	Tehran	5.2 Mw	VI	2	97	4.0 Mw aftershock: 1 dead, 75 injured
2017-11-12	Kermanshah	7.3 Mw	IX	630	8,435
2017-05-13	North Khorasan	5.6 Mw	VII	3	370
2017-04-05	Khorasan-e Razavi	6.1 Mw	VII	2	34
2017-01-06	Fars	5.0 Mw	VI	4	5
2014-08-18	Ilam	6.2 Mw	VIII		60–330
2013-11-28	Bushehr	5.6 Mw	VII	7	45
2013-04-13	Sistan and Baluchestan	7.7 Mw	VIII	35	117
2013-04-09	Bushehr	6.3 Mw	VIII	37	850
2012-08-11	East Azerbaijan	6.4 Mw	VIII	306	3,037	Doublet
2012-08-11	East Azerbaijan	6.3 Mw				Doublet
2011-06-15	Kerman	5.3		2
2010-12-20	Kerman	6.5 Mw	IX	11	100
2010-08-27	Semnan	5.8 Mw	VII	4	40	800 displaced
2010-07-30	Razavi Khorasan	5.5 Mw	VI		274	Severe damage
2008-09-10	Qeshm	5.9 Mw	VIII	7	45
2006-03-31	Lorestan	6.1 Mw	VIII	63–70+	1,246–1,418
2005-11-27	Qeshm	5.8 Mw	VII	13	100
2005-02-22	Kerman	6.4 Mw	VIII	612	1,411
2004-05-28	Māzandarān	6.3 Mw	VIII	35	278–400	$15.4 million
2003-12-26	Kerman	6.6 Mw	IX	34,000	200,000	45,000–75,600 displaced	[34]
2002-06-22	Qazvin	6.3 Mw	VIII	261	1,500
1999-03-04	Kerman	6.6 Mw	VII	1		517 houses damaged	[35]
1998-03-14	Kerman	6.6 Mw	VIII	5	50		[36]
1997-05-10	South Khorasan	7.3 Mw	X	1,567	2,300
1997-02-28	Ardabil	6.1 Mw	VIII	1,100	2,600
1997-02-04	North Khorasan	6.5 Mw	VIII	100	1,948
1990-06-20	Gilan	7.4 Mw	X	35,000–50,000	60,000–105,000
1981-07-28	Kerman	7.1 Ms	IX	1,500	1,000
1981-06-11	Kerman	6.6 Mw	VIII+	1,400–3,000	many
1979-11-14	South Khorasan	6.8 Mw	VIII	297–440
1978-09-16	South Khorasan	7.4 Mw	IX	15,000–25,000
1977-12-19	Kerman	5.9 Mw	VII	584–665
1977-04-06	Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari	6.0 Mw	VIII	348–366
1977-03-21	Hormozgan	7.0 Ms	VIII	152–167
1972-04-10	Fars	6.7 Mw	IX	5,374	1,710
1970-07-30	Khorasan	6.4		175	450		[37] [38]
1968-08-31	South Khorasan	7.4 Mw	X	15,000
1968-09-01	South Khorasan	6.4 Mw		900
1965-02-10	East Azerbaijan	5.1		20
1962-09-01	Qazvin	7.1 ML	IX	12,225	2,776
1960-04-24	Fars	6.0 Muk		420			[39]
1958-08-16	Hamadan	6.7 Muk		132			[39]
1957-12-13	Kermanshah	7.1		1,130
1957-07-02	Māzandarān	7.1		1,200
1953-02-12	Semnan	6.6 Mw	VIII	800–973	140
1947-08-05	South Khorasan	7.3		500
1932-05-20	Māzandarān	5.4 Muk	VIII	1,070			[39]
1930-05-07	West Azerbaijan	7.1 Mw	IX	1,360–3,000
1929-05-01	Khorasan-e Razavi	7.2 Mw	IX	3,257–3,800	1,121
1923-05-25	Khorasan-e Razavi	5.9 Mw	VII+	2,200		More than 7 villages destroyed	[40]
1909-01-23	Lorestan	7.3 ML	IX	6,000–8,000
1895-01-17	Khorasan-e Razavi	6.8 Ms	VIII	1,000–11,000
1893-11-17	Khorasan-e Razavi	6.6 Ms	X	18,000			[41]
1872-01-06	North Khorasan	5.6	VII	4,000			[42]
1871-12-23	North Khorasan	6.3	VII	2,000			[42]
1864-01-17	Kerman		VIII	Many			[39]
1853-05-05	Fars		IX	9,000–13,000			[39]
1778-12-15	Kashan	6.2 Ms		>8,000			[41]
1755-06-07	Isfahan			40,000
1727-11-18	East Azerbaijan		VIII	77,000
1721-04-26	East Azerbaijan	7.7 Ms	VIII–X	8,000–250,000
1679-06-04	Yerevan, Armenia	6.4 Ms	IX–X	7,600		Under Iranian rule at the time
1667-11-25	Shamakhi, Azerbaijan	6.9 Ms	X	80,000		Under Iranian rule at the time
1641-02-05	Tabriz, East Azerbaijan	6.8 Ms	IX	30,000		Tabriz completely destroyed
1101-??-??	Khorasan-e Razavi	6.5 Muk	X	60,000			[42]
1042-08-21	East Azerbaijan	7.6		40,000
1008-04-11	Bushehr	6.5 Ms		16,000			[42]
978-06-17	Bushehr	5.3 Ms		2,000			[42]
893-03-23	Ardabil			150,000		See also 893 Dvin earthquake
856-12-22	Semnan	7.9 Ms	X	200,000
850-07-15	Tehran			45,000			[42]
743-??-??	Semnan	7.2 Ms	IX				[42]
662-04-26	Semnan			40,000			[42]
400? BCE	Tehran	7.6					[42]
Note: Mw = moment magnitude scale, Ms = surface-wave magnitude, and Muk = unknown. The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described also apply to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded.

See also

• Environmental issues in Iran
• Geology of Iran
• Iranian Earthquake Engineering Association (IEEA)

References

1. "Preliminary Earthquake Reconnaissance Report on the June 22, 2002 Changureh (Avaj), Iran Earthquake". International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology. 2002-07-19. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
2. Manuel Berberian. "100 years; 126,000 deaths". The Iranian.
3. "پژوهش تازه: ۷۳ درصد راه‌های استان تهران در برابر زلزله آسیب‌پذیر هستند". www.iranintl.com (in Persian). 2025-12-28. Retrieved 2025-12-30.
4. "M 4.9 – 6 km SE of Kāshmar, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 18 June 2024.
5. "۹۰۰ واحد مسکونی در زلزله کاشمر آسیب دیده است" [900 residential units damaged in Kashmir earthquake city] (in Persian). Islamic Republic News Agency. 22 June 2024.
6. "M 5.6 – 13 km SW of Khowy, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 24 March 2023.
7. "M 5.9 – 14 km SSW of Khowy, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 28 January 2023.
8. "M 5.7 – 12 km S of Khowy, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 18 January 2023.
9. "M 5.6 – 8 km SE of Khowy, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 5 October 2022.
10. "M 5.6 – 69 km NE of Bandar-e Lengeh, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 23 July 2022.
11. "مصدوم زلزله هرمزگان". ghatreh (in Persian). 24 July 2022.
12. "M 4.1 – 37 km N of Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh". United States Geological Survey. 3 July 2022.
13. "M 4.3 – NEAR THE COAST OF NORTHERN IRAN – 2022-07-03 14:05:33 UTC". European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre .
14. "زلزله گیلان یک مصدوم بر جای گذاشت" [The Gilan earthquake left one injured]. yjc.news (in Persian).
15. "M 6.0 – 52 km NE of Bandar-e Lengeh, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 1 July 2022.
16. "M 6.0 – 57 km NE of Bandar-e Lengeh, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 1 July 2022.
17. "M 5.6 – 31 km NE of Kīsh, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 25 June 2022.
18. "M 4.4 – southern Iran". United States Geological Survey. 23 April 2022.
19. "وقوع زلزله در منطقه خان زنیان، تاکنون یک مصدوم داشت". sums.ac.ir (in Persian). Archived from the original on 2022-06-02. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
20. "M 4.7 – 90 km SE of Dārāb, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 19 March 2022.
21. "زلزله داراب فارس ۲ مصدوم داشت" [Darab Fars earthquake had 2 casualties] (in Persian). Islamic Republic News Agency.
22. "M 5.9 – 59 km NNW of Bandar e-Lengeh, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 16 March 2022.
23. "See | The latest details of the Hormozgan earthquake 2 outpatient injured were treated". hamshahrionline.com (in Persian). 17 March 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-03-22. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
24. "M 4.0 – Northwestern Iran". United States Geological Survey. 23 January 2022.
25. "Dubai and Abu Dhabi feel tremors from 6.2 magnitude quake in Iran". The National. 14 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
26. "Overall Orange Earthquake alert in Islamic Republic of Iran on 14 Nov 2021 12:08 UTC". gdacs.org. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
27. "M 4.6 – 3 km NNW of Damavand, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 7 May 2020.
28. "Moderate Iran quake kills two, draws many into Tehran streets". Reuters. 8 May 2020. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
29. "M 5.8 - 41 km NW of Salmas, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 23 February 2020.
30. APA.az (2019-11-09). "Number of wounded reaches 529 in quake in Eastern Azerbaijan province of Iran". apa.az (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 2019-11-09.
31. "M 5.6 – 31 km SE of Masjed Soleyman, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 8 July 2019.
32. "M 6.3 – 15 km SW of Sarpol-e Zahab, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 25 November 2018.
33. "M 6.0 – 32 km SW of Javanrud, Iran". United States Geological Survey. 25 August 2018.
34. "After 17 Years Iran Finally Announces 34,000 Died in Bam Earthquake". Iran International. December 26, 2020. Archived from the original on August 26, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
35. "M 6.6 – 110 km SSE of K?h Sef?d, Iran". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
36. Berberian 2014 , p. 617
37. "Quake Levels Iranian Villages", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 31, 1970, p1
38. "M 6.4 – 52 km NE of Kal?leh, Iran". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
39. NGDC (1972), Significant Earthquake Database (Data Set), National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA, doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K, archived from the original on September 29, 2006
40. Berberian 2014 , p. 593
41. Ambraseys N.N.; Melville C.P. (2005). A History of Persian Earthquakes. Cambridge University Press. pp. 53–54, 160. ISBN   9780521021876.
42. "Search results Country=Iran, Year <2025". NGDC.

Sources

• Berberian, M. (2014), Earthquakes and Coseismic Surface Faulting on the Iranian Plateau, Developments in Earth Surface Processes (1st ed.), Elsevier, ISBN   978-0444632920

External links

• Latest earthquakes in Iran and adjacent areas Archived 2022-10-20 at the Wayback Machine – Iranian Seismological Center