TEHRAN – A total of 165 earthquakes were recorded across the country in the third week of Bahman, the 11th Iranian calendar month, which falls from February 1 to 7, according to the seismological networks of the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Tehran.

Statistically, 139 earthquakes with magnitudes smaller than 3; 24 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3 and 4; and 2 earthquakes with magnitudes between 4 and 5 magnitudes have occurred in the country, IRNA reported.

Of the total quakes, 1 had a magnitude of 4.2 on the Richter scale which occurred on February 4th with the epicenter in Bushehr province.

Among the provinces of the country, Bushehr with 34 (of which 18 earthquakes just occurred in Jam county) experienced the highest number of earthquakes, followed by North Khorasan with 19, and Khorasan Razavi with 17 earthquakes.

During the same period, no earthquakes were recorded in Tehran, East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Ardabil, Alborz, and Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad provinces.

The Iranian plateau is located in a very seismically active region of the world and is known not only for its major catastrophic earthquakes but also for the disasters relating to natural hazards, especially earthquakes.

About 2 percent of the earthquakes in the world occur in Iran but more than six percent of the victims of the world earthquakes during the 20th century are reported from Iranian earthquakes.

MT/MG