Magnitude 5.7 earthquake in northeast Iran leaves 3 dead

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian state TV is reporting a strong magnitude 5.7 earthquake has left three people dead and about 200 injured in a remote area in the country’s northeast.

The quake that struck late Saturday jolted the town of Pishqaleh, a farming region close to the Turkmenistan border, with a population of about 2,000 people, some 800 kilometres (498 miles) northeast of the capital Tehran.

The earthquake led to a power outage and TV reports said the quake damaged several buildings in nearby villages.

A magnitude 5.7 quake has the potential to cause considerable damage.

Iran is prone to daily quakes as it sits on many major fault lines. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6. temblor flattened the historic city of Bam, killing 26,000 people.