CNN Staff Writer
(CNN) — A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook southeastern Iran Saturday, the US Geological Survey reported. At least one person was killed.
Officials said the quake struck in an area of Anbar province.
Ismail Pashayev, head of Anbar emergency operations, said one person was killed in a building collapse.
Iran sits on several fault lines and has had its share of earthquakes. One of the deadliest strikes in August 2003, when 7,000 people were killed in a magnitude 6.6 quake in the southeastern city of Bam.
Six people were killed in July 2011 when a magnitude 7.3 quake hit Golestan province, south of the Iraqi border.
Saturday’s temblor was the first to be felt by Iran since the new year, according to the seismological monitoring agency Seismwatch.
Its depth was about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles), the USGS said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries on social media. Iran’s semi-official news agency Mehr reported that telephone lines and metro stations in the region were either down or functioning slowly.
The Mehr news agency said bridges, roads and homes had suffered damage.
Pashayev, the official, asked people to stay away from “structural abnormalities” caused by the quake. He said public health was the No. 1 priority at the moment.
The Anbar and Bam earthquakes were both felt on the Iranian peninsula, and Saturday’s quake was closest to that area.
A quake of magnitude 7.0 or more can cause serious damage to large buildings, like tall buildings and office towers.
About 2,000 aftershocks have been recorded from Bam.