Iran International
A series of overnight earthquakes and a powerful dust storm rattled Tehran and nearby cities on Tuesday night, reviving fears of a catastrophic earthquake in a capital still psychologically scarred by recent war.
The seismic activity began with a mild 3.4-magnitude tremor before intensifying into a 4.6-magnitude earthquake later in the night. Several aftershocks continued into early Wednesday morning.
At the same time, a storm swept through Tehran, bringing severe dust, power outages and fallen trees. At least seven people were reportedly injured in the storm, though authorities said the earthquakes themselves caused no casualties or major damage.
Still, the tremors revived a long-standing fear in Tehran: the possibility of a devastating earthquake along the active fault lines beneath eastern Tehran and surrounding towns.
The big one may be overdue
ILNA quoted earthquake expert Fariborz Nateghi Elahi criticizing the lack of serious crisis planning for the major quake scientists have long warned about.
“We know an earthquake will happen,” he said. “Not on this scale, but something much, much larger.”
Eastern Tehran and nearby towns sit atop an active fault stretching at least 200 kilometers and capable of generating earthquakes above magnitude 7. Geologists say the fault typically produces a major earthquake roughly once every century.
Nearly 200 years have passed since the last truly destructive event. In 1830, a massive earthquake estimated at magnitude 7.1 devastated Tehran, then a relatively young capital.
Scientists now warn that pressure accumulated underground since then has left the fault in a critical state, primed for a major release of energy.
In December 2017, a 3.5-magnitude tremor caused widespread panic, sending residents into the streets and forcing many families to sleep in their cars overnight. This time, despite the stronger quake, the public reaction appeared noticeably more subdued.
Crisis fatigue
Some residents still spent the night in parks, streets or inside their vehicles, but many on social media said the trauma of recent air and missile attacks during two wars had numbed their reactions.
One psychologist writing on X suggested the muted response could be explained by “crisis fatigue.”
A social media user wrote: “The 2017 earthquake made Tehran residents sleep in their cars until morning. Streets were completely gridlocked, and gas stations were packed. Its magnitude? 3.5. Now our reaction is: ‘Oh, it’s just an earthquake,’ and we pull the blanket over our heads and go back to sleep. I think only a nuclear bomb could still move people in this country.”
Another user described how the storm initially triggered fears of renewed military attacks: “The storm started, windows were shaking, and I thought: ‘Is it fighter jets?’”
She said she then checked the news and realized it was just a storm, which briefly calmed her. “Then the earthquake came, and I thought: well, that’s nothing. Compared to war, everything feels like a joke.”
“I worked at a petrochemical company and got fired. Since we can no longer afford rent, my wife, two children and I have moved back into my parents’ house,” one citizen told Iran International.
Another, a woman supporting her household alone, said she was forced to share her home after losing her job at a restaurant.
“I am the head of my household and after losing my job at a restaurant, I had no choice but to get a roommate to reduce rent and living costs while raising my teenage child,” she told Iran International.
Shargh newspaper reported on Thursday that more tenants in Tehran and other large cities are turning to shared housing, returning to parents’ homes or leaving the capital altogether as rent and living costs climb.
The newspaper cited residents who said they were searching for roommates for the first time after years of living independently, while others described plans to move back with family members or relocate to smaller cities after losing income.
A 45-year-old woman who had lived alone in central Tehran for two decades told Shargh she was considering taking in roommates because she could no longer afford rent on her own.
“More than two decades passed living alone and now I have to change my standards,” she told the newspaper. “Paying 400 million rials ($220) in rent in Tehran’s Bahar neighborhood is impossible for me.”
Another resident said he and his brother were looking for a third housemate after his workplace suspended operations and stopped paying salaries.
Reverse migration from Tehran
Shargh said some residents were preparing to leave Tehran entirely after years in the capital, describing what it called a wave of reverse migration driven by economic hardship and shrinking work opportunities.
One editor told the newspaper she was returning to her hometown Kashan in her mid-40s after more than two decades in Tehran because rising costs and declining work in publishing left her unable to continue living independently.
“I thought I would return to Kashan after retirement, not in middle age because I can no longer survive economically in Tehran,” she told Shargh.
The report also pointed to signs of tighter housing supply, citing online property listings and real estate agents who said available rental units had declined while demand increased, particularly after displacement linked to the conflict with Israel.
Erosion of independence
Sociologist Abdolvahab Shahlibar told Shargh that shared housing in Iran is increasingly a financial necessity rather than a lifestyle choice.
“Efforts to improve quality of life have in many cases been replaced by efforts to preserve basic survival,” Shahlibar told the newspaper, warning that being forced to return to parents’ homes or abandon independent living could reshape social relationships and personal identity.
