At least 40 people have been reported dead, Hedayatollah Mir-Moradzehi, a lawmaker who represents Saravan, told Iranian state television. Mahmoud Mozafar, head of relief and rescue at Iran’s Red Crescent organization, said search groups have been dispatched to the affected areas.
Casualties may be limited by the fact that the region is sparsely populated, Mohamed Sarvar, deputy head of emergency services, told Fars. Still, Reuters cited an unidentified Iranian official as saying that hundreds are likely to have been killed. State television said that there are about 1,700 villages in the Saravan area, and Fars said many houses there are made of mud brick that can easily crumble in a quake.
Much of Iran lies close to geological fault-lines and is prone to earthquakes. A major one in 2003 flattened the southern city of Bam and killed about 40,000 people. A smaller quake last week hit the province of Bushehr and raised concerns about the safety of the nuclear plant located there.