A 4.3-magnitude quake just shook Gerash in southern Iran. The USGS recorded it Tuesday afternoon at a shallow depth of 10km. The epicenter sat about 50km northwest of the city near Khonj.
Nobody died. Nothing major collapsed. Emergency services say it’s all quiet on the damage front. Locals felt the shake though — standard stuff for that size in rural areas.
Southern Iran sits on the Zagros belt where tectonic plates smash together. The Arabian plate rams into the Eurasian plate there. Experts say this quake looks completely natural. The shallow depth fits the pattern perfectly.
But people are talking anyway. War is raging between Iran, Israel and the US right now. Social media is buzzing with wild theories. Some claim it’s secret nuclear testing. The UN nuclear watchdog says that’s rubbish. No nuke facilities got hit either.
Iran gets quakes all the time. This one barely registers on the scale. Authorities are keeping an eye out but no big aftershocks have shown up yet.
The story’s still developing as local teams check things over.