A Magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Turkey-Iran border region early Sunday

morning at a very shallow depth of 3 miles and affected at least 43 villages in Turkey and in Iran. At least eight people were killed and 37 more injured,  nine of them are in critical condition. Four of the dead were children. Many more are believed to be still buried under an estimated 1,066 collapsed buildings.

The earthquake was followed by three aftershocks between magnitude-4.1 and magnitude-4.4  and eleven hours later by an even larger 6.0 aftershock.

The earthquake was also widely felt in Iran and 51 people were reportedly injured in the quake. Iranian officials haven’t reported any deaths yet.

Iran and Turkey sit on top of a major fault line between the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates and are among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. 

An earthquake in Turkey two weeks ago turned a river blood-red. Two strong earthquakes struck northwest Turkey in 1999, killing around 18,000 people.

In November 2017 a 7.3-magnitude tremor in the western province of Kermanshah, Iran killed 620 people. In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake in southeast Iran decimated the ancient mud-brick city of Bam and killed at least 31,000 people. It did not damage the nearby plant. Iran’s deadliest quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 that killed 40,000 people in northern Iran, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless.

Many of these earthquakes are in the Bushehr province in which Iran’s nuclear power plant is located, the most recent in January.

Both Turkey and Iran are considered probable participants in the pre-Messiah War of Gog and Magog. It should also be noted that according to Jewish tradition, God will also enter the fray, using the forces of nature as his armies.