Two powerful earthquakes struck northwest Iran Saturday, killing 80 people and injuring about 400 more, state media reported.

The U.S. Geological survey measured the first quake, which struck 37 miles northeast of the city Tabriz, at 3:25 p.m. with a 6.4 magnitude. The second quake, which occurred 11 minutes later, struck an area about 30 miles northeast of Tabriz with a 6.3 magnitude.

Most of the casualties were in outlying villages, Reuters reported.

A local official in the area told Iranian Students' News Agency that six villages had been completely destroyed and 60 villages had been 50 to 70 percent destroyed.

A local provincial official urged people in the region to stay outdoors during the night for fear of aftershocks, according to the official IRNA news agency. By early evening, ISNA said there had been at least 10 aftershocks.

Local media reports said the earthquakes had broken telephone communications to many villages, making rescue efforts harder.

Iran is situated amid several major fault lines and is well known for its long history of devastating earthquake activity. The last major earthquake, which struck the city of Bam in December 2003, had a 6.6 magnitude and killed more than 25,000 people and injured an additional 30,000.