TEHRAN - No damage has been reported to historical sites and museums across the northern Golestan province as a medium-sized quake struck the province on Monday, according to the province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department.

Based on field visits by experts of the province’s cultural heritage department, no serious damage to historical relics and monuments has been reported, provincial tourism chief Ahmad Tajari announced on Tuesday.

According to the data published by the Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC), affiliated to Tehran University, the first quake struck the city of Ramian measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale at 2:04 a.m. at a depth of 9 kilometers, leaving 34 injured.

Four other quakes measuring 2.9 – 3.1 on the Richter scale shook the area within hours.

Golestan is reportedly embracing some 2,500 historical and natural sites, with UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus – a one-millennium-old brick tower – which is of high architectural importance as an exemplar and innovative design of the early-Islamic-era architecture.

Narratives say the tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond. The UNESCO comments that the tower bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.

ABU/MG