Fariborz Nateghi Elahi Warns of Bigger Quake in Capital Of Iran
A 4.6-magnitude earthquake shook the capital of Iran overnight on Tuesday, following an earlier 3.4-magnitude tremor and several aftershocks into Wednesday morning. A powerful dust storm hit Tehran at the same time, bringing severe dust, power outages and fallen trees.
Authorities said the earthquakes caused no casualties or major damage. The storm injured at least seven people, and some residents spent the night in parks, streets or inside their vehicles after the shaking.
Tehran’s fault line and Fariborz Nateghi Elahi
Eastern Tehran and nearby towns sit on an active fault stretching at least 200 kilometers, and geologists say it can generate earthquakes above magnitude 7. They say the fault typically produces a major earthquake roughly once every century, yet nearly 200 years have passed since the last truly destructive event.
Fariborz Nateghi Elahi, an earthquake expert, criticized the lack of serious crisis planning for the earthquake scientists have long warned about. He said, “We know an earthquake will happen.” He added, “Not on this scale, but something much, much larger.”
1830 and December 2017
Tehran last suffered a major destructive earthquake in 1830, when a magnitude 7.1 quake devastated the city. In December 2017, a 3.5-magnitude tremor triggered widespread panic in Tehran, with people sleeping in cars and gas stations packed through the night.
One social media user said the 2017 quake made Tehran residents sleep in their cars until morning, but the reaction to Tuesday night’s shaking was quieter. The same user said that after the latest tremors, people pulled the blanket over their heads and went back to sleep.
Dust storm over Tehran
The dust storm added its own strain to the night in Tehran. One social media user said the storm first made them think fighter jets were overhead, and said the earthquake felt minor compared with war.
The overlap of the storm and the tremors left Tehran with a familiar fault-line fear and a more immediate practical concern: injuries, outages and debris from the weather event already added to the stress of the shaking. The next step will come from the city’s emergency response and seismic monitoring as residents wait to see whether the aftershocks stop or continue.
