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12 Injured in Magnitude-7.6 Quake in Southeastern Iran
TEHRAN (FNA)- The powerful earthquake which jolted Southeastern Iran and several other countries across the region a few hours ago has injured only 12 people for its epicenter was located in the depth of 95 kilometers reducing its impact to the size of a magnitude-4 quake on the surface, officials said Tuesday evening.
The earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale jolted an area near the town of Saravan in Iran's Southeastern Sistan and Balouchestan province near the border with Pakistan earlier today.
The Seismological center of the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University registered the quake at 15:14 hours local time (1044 GMT).
The center said the epicenter of the quake was located in an area 62.03 degrees in longitude and 28.04 degrees in latitude. It added that the quake's epicenter was located in a desert area around 81km North of Saravan and in the depth of 95km.
The quake shook the area for 40 seconds. Relief and rescue squads have already rushed to the quake-hit areas.
The area has already been hit by several aftershocks, including the last one which measured 4.4 on the Richter scale.
Reports said the earthquake was so strong that its tremors were felt across the region of the Middle-East, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman and all the way to Pakistan, Afghanistan and North India, including Delhi, India's capital.
Initial reports said that the quake has killed no one and only injured 12, including 8 outpatients and four others who have been hospitalized in nearby cities. Meantime, the earthquake destroyed more than 1000 homes in Pakistan.
Mehdi Zare, a deputy director at the Tehran University's seismological research center, said that the quake was 50 times more powerful than the last Tuesday quake in Bushehr province South of Iran. He said that the quake was unprecedented in the past 100 years, but it has not left much casualties or damage to properties due to the fact that its epicenter has been deep into the ground making its tremors feel like a magnitude-4 quake, and that most people in the arid area live in tents and in the scattered populations.
A 6.1 magnitude quake struck Bushehr province last Tuesday killing at least 39 people and injuring 850 more as it devastated small villages. The epicenter of earthquake was located in the town of Kaki, 60 miles (96km) Southeast of Bushehr.
The nearby Bushehr nuclear plant remained undamaged.
Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating.
The worst in recent times hit Bam in southeastern Kerman province in December 2003, killing 31,000 people - about a quarter of its population - and destroying the city's ancient mud-built citadel.
The deadliest quake in the country was in June 1990 and measured 7.7 on the Richter scale. About 37,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 injured in the northwestern provinces of Gilan and Zanjan. It devastated 27 towns and about 1,870 villages.
Fars News Agency :: 12 Injured in Magnitude-7.6 Quake in Southeastern Iran