LONDON (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck northeast Iran on Wednesday near the holy city of Mashhad, leaving at least one person dead and several injured.

The quake, of magnitude 6.1 according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), occurred 76 km (47 miles) east-southeast of the city and at a depth of 33 km.

The governor of the province said on the state television that the quake happened at 10:39 a.m. local time (0609 GMT) and had shaken a vast area.

State news agency IRNA quoted emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi as saying there were fears that casualties in villages and small towns could be high. Red Crescent teams and emergency services had been deployed to the area, he said.

A Red Crescent official was quoted by state media as saying one person had died in a village near the city of Fariman and at that least four were injured.

Pictures posted on social media showed deep cracks in streets and buildings and Tasnim news agency reported that phone lines in some of the affected area were disrupted.

Local people said in media reports and on Twitter they had felt more than a dozen aftershocks, with some afraid to go back to their homes.</s>TEHRAN, Iran - A powerful magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck northeastern Iran near the holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday, sending people fleeing out onto the street as aftershocks shook the region. Iranian state radio said the epicenter of the quake appeared to be the Sefid Sang district, a remote mountainous area home to 5,000 people some 80 kilometers southeast of Mashhad.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Washington Post.</s>A powerful magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck northeastern Iran near the holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday, killing at least one person as residents fled onto the streets and aftershocks shook the region. Iranian state radio said the epicenter of the quake appeared to be the Sefid Sang district, a remote mountainous area home to 5,000 people some 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Mashhad. It said rescue teams and helicopters had deployed in Iran’s Khorasan Razavi province to the area to assess the damage.

Semi-official Iranian news agencies posted videos online of people in the street and pictures of cracks and damage to some buildings. Press TV, the English-language arm of Iranian state television, said at least one person was killed. The semi-official Fars news agency said five people were injured and that mobile phone service and landline telephone lines had been affected.

State radio described the depth of the quake as only 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Shallow earthquakes can cause serious damage. The U.S. Geological Survey also described the temblor as a 6.1, saying it had a depth of only 13 kilometers (8 miles). A magnitude 6 earthquake can cause severe damage. Iran sits on a series of seismic fault lines and experiences one slight quake a day on average. In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.</s>TEHRAN, Iran — A powerful magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck northeastern Iran near the holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday, killing at least one person as residents fled onto the streets and aftershocks shook the region.

The shallow temblor damaged at least four villages near its epicenter in the Sefid Sang district, a remote mountainous area home to 5,000 people, located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Mashhad, state TV's English-language Press TV channel reported. It said rescue teams and helicopters had deployed in Iran's Khorasan Razavi province to the area to assess the damage.

Semi-official Iranian news agencies posted videos online of panicked people in the streets, items falling off store shelves and photos of damaged buildings.

 Press TV said at least one person was killed. The semi-official Fars news agency said five people were injured and that mobile phone service and landline telephone lines had been affected.

State media described the depth of the quake as only 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Either a shallow earthquakes and or a magnitude 6 temblor on its own can cause serious damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey also described the temblor as a 6.1, saying it had a depth of only 13 kilometers (8 miles).

 Iran sits on a series of seismic fault lines and experiences one slight quake a day on average. In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.</s>A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck near the holy city of Mashhad in Iran's northeast on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey and Iranian media said. USGS said the quake occurred 76 km east-southeast of the city and at a depth of 33 km.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters.</s>MASHHAD, Iran : A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 76 km east-southeast of the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of 33 km.

Mashhad is the second most populous city in Iran and capital of Razavi Khorasan Province. It is located some 970 kilometers from Quetta.</s>The shallow temblor damaged at least four villages near its epicenter in the Sefid Sang district, a remote mountainous area home to 5,000 people. 6.1 magnitude earthquake near Iran's Mashhad kills 2 The shallow temblor damaged at least four villages near its epicenter in the Sefid Sang district, a remote mountainous area home to 5,000 people.

Start the conversation, or Read more at USA Today.</s>At least two people died when an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck near Iran’s Shia Muslim holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday, local media reported.

The quake struck at 10:39 am (0609 GMT) around 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Iran’s second city in an area called Sepidsang.

Two people have been reported dead and four injured, local officials told state television, with four villages said to have been badly damaged.

Rescue teams have been sent to affected areas, where some 20 aftershocks have been reported.

“It was horrible. It made a lot of noise. Everything was shaking,” a Mashhad resident told AFP by phone.

Iran lies on a major fault line and sees frequent earthquakes. The most recent was in January, when four people died in southern Iran.

A 2003 quake killed at least 31,000 people and all but destroyed the historic city of Bam in the southeast of the country.</s>LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck near the holy city of Mashhad in Iran's northeast on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Iranian media said.

USGS said the quake occurred 76 km east-southeast of the city and at a depth of 33 km.

Iranian state television said the quake happened at 10:40 a.m. local time (0610 GMT) and had shaken Mashhad and cities around it.

Tasnim news agency reported that phone lines in parts of affected areas were disrupted.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.</s>TEHRAN, IRAN - A magnitude 6.1 earthquake has struck northern Iran early Thursday.

 

 Iranian state television described the temblor as hitting on Wednesday near Mashaad, the country's second-largest city. It offered no immediate information on possible damage or injuries.

 

 The U.S. Geological Survey described the earthquake as a magnitude 6.1.

 

 Iran is prone to earthquakes due to a number of faults in the Middle Eastern nation.

 

 In 2003, around 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern Iranian city of Bam.

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A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck northeast Iran near the city of Mashhad, kills 1 person and at that least four were injured.