These few weeks so many earthquakes?
Iran hit by major earthquake
7.8 force tremor strikes country near its border with Pakistan
Relatives of victims of last week’s earthquake in Iran mourn during a funeral. A second major earthquake has hit the country today and hundreds are feared dead. Photograph: Reuters
Relatives of victims of last week’s earthquake in Iran mourn during a funeral. A second major earthquake has hit the country today and hundreds are feared dead. Photograph: Reuters
First published: Tue, Apr 16, 2013, 10:13
Iran has been hit by its most powerful earthquake for nearly 40 years and there is confusion over the number of casualities.
Iranian crisis centre official Morteza Akbarpour told the ISNA news agency that the earthquake had so far,‘‘not caused any fatalities”.
“The epicentre of the quake was located in the desert and population centres do not surround it. There were no fatalities in the towns around the epicentre," he said.
However, another official was quoted by a news agency as saying he feared hundreds had died. Iranian state TV has reported at least 40 people killed.
The epicentre of the 7.8 magnitude quake was near the south-east city of Khash, close to the Pakistani border, the US Geological Survey said. At least five deaths have been reported in Pakistan.
The earthquake is reported to be the biggest earthquake in Iran in 40 years.
The US Geological Survey said the lightly-populated region was hit by a 7.8 force tremor. The quake was felt as far away as New Delhi and Gulf cities of Dubai and Bahrain. It was at a depth of 11kms.
Across the Gulf, high-rise buildings swayed and officials ordered evacuations.
People in the city of Zahedan poured into the streets when the earthquake struck, Iran's Fars news agency reported.
All communications in the area have been cut, the Iranian Red Crescent's Mahmoud Mozaffar told state television. Rescue teams have been dispatched to the affected area, he said.
People in the city of Zahedan poured into the streets when the earthquake struck, Iran's Fars news agency reported. All communications in the area have been cut, the Iranian Red Crescent's Mahmoud Mozaffar told state television. Rescue teams have been dispatched to the affected area, he said.
"In the aftermath of this earthquake five evaluation teams from the Khash and Saravan branches were sent to the area to assess damage," Mr Mozaffar said. The epicenter was in southeast Iran in an area of mountains and desert, 201 km southeast of Zahedan and 250 km northwest of Turbat in Pakistan, USGS said. On April 9th, a powerful 6.3 magnitude quake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station, killing 37 people, injuring 850 and devastating two villages. Most of Iran's nuclear-related facilities are located in central Iran or its west, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Gulf coast.
A US Institute for Science and International Security map did not show any nuclear-linked facilities in southeastern Iran close to Pakistan.
Iran sits on major geological faultlines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 that flattened the city of Bam, in Iran's far southeast, killing more than 25,000 people.
This quake also shook tall buildings in India's capital New Delhi, sending people running into the streets, witnesses said. People also evacuated buildings in Qatar and Dubai, residents said.
"I was working and my work station was shaking," said Viidhu Sekhri (35) an underwriter at a New Delhi insurance company.
"Then it was a bit shaky so we just rushed outside."
Earlier in the day two smaller tremors were felt in India's Himalayan region close to the Chinese border. An official at India's disaster management authority said the tremors felt in New Delhi and across northern India were because of the earthquake in Iran.
Agencies
