The number of injured of the 5.7 magnitude earthquake which hit this northeastern province Friday evening has risen to 170, it was announced here on Saturday. Javad Erfanian, head of the provincial crisis management center, told IRNA that most of the injured have been treated without being hospitalized, IRNA reported. He added that 13 injured are still in hospitals while two of them are in critical condition. Erfanian said that the quake has inflicted damage between 20 and 70 percent on several villages of Torbat-e Heydarieh and Zaveh. The quake hit Gonabad and nearby cities of Torbat-e Heydarieh and Mashhad at 18:20 local time (1350 GMT) Friday and was felt in other surrounding towns. Iran is often hit by quakes of varying magnitudes as it sits on some of the world's most active seismic fault lines. The worst earthquake in recent years, of 6.3 magnitude, struck the southeastern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people -- about a quarter of its population -- and destroying the city's ancient mud-built citadel.
