Iran earthquakes

M6.7 earthquake 32 km NE of Q?’en, Iran

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck 32 km NE of Q?’en, Iran on Tue, Jan 16, 1979, 1:20 PM GMT+3:30 (09:50 UTC), 33 km (21 mi) below the surface.

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Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 6.7 (Ms, surface-wave), strong
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Tue, Jan 16, 1979, 1:20 PM GMT+3:30
UTC: 1979-01-16 09:50:10 UTC
Depth: 33.0 km (20.5 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 33.897° N, 59.472° E
Region: Iran
Strongest shaking: VIII, severe shaking
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Magnitude estimates

Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
6.7	Ms, surface-wave	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
6.49	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
6.5	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary

Deaths and damage

From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 4825), matched to this event by time and place.

Deaths: 129
Injuries: 200
Damage: Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
Houses destroyed: 1,700

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA’s full record of this earthquake

Shaking

The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.

Strongest estimated: VIII, severe shaking
Peak ground acceleration: 20.3% of gravity
Peak ground velocity: 3.2 cm/s
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from: OPERATOR_ASSIGNED
Stations used: 242

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 3.7 and up: 8 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.

After

Earthquakes today Iran earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0000yf2 (also filed as gcmtc011679a, gcmt19790116095010, atlas19790116095008, iscgem671093). Read Thu, Oct 1, 2026, 7:53 PM UTC.