At least 24 injured as magnitude 4.8 quake jolts Iran's Garmsar

An earthquake measured 4.8 on the Richter scale has shaken the northern Iranian city of Garmsar, leaving at least two dozen people wounded.

The tremor hit the city, in Semnan Province, at 05:16 a.m. local time (0146 GMT) on Sunday, at a depth of 11 kilometers and set off 10 aftershocks.

The quake was felt in the provinces of Tehran, Qom, and Alborz.

Pejaman Gharaiyan, head of the EMS department at Semnan University of Medical Sciences, said six people were treated at the site of the injury and 18 others were taken to the hospital.

He added that 15 of those hospitalized were released.

Meanwhile, the head of the Red Crescent Society in Gramsar Saeid Majidi said that the earthquake did not cause any material damage or human losses.

Garmsar Governor Reza Khani noted that emergency response teams are on standby, urging residents to remain calm.

Iran sits astride the boundaries of several major tectonic plates and experiences frequent seismic activity.

The country's deadliest recorded quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in June 1990 that killed 40,000 people in the cities of Rudbar and Manjil in Gilan Province, injured 300,000, and left half a million homeless.

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