Strong quake shakes southern Iran, 7 killed

"Based on the latest information, seven people were killed and 47 others injured," the province's governor Abdolali Saheb Mohammadi explained.

Iran’s seismological center said the magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:15 p.m., with the epicenter about 850 miles south of the capital Tehran.

The quake, which was followed by 10 aftershocks, knocked out power and caused minor damage on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf.

The governor said that electricity, water and telecommunication services had been restored on the island.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the initial quake’s strength at magnitude 6.1.

“Houses in this region have been built in recent years and are resistant to earthquakes. Only minor damage has been reported from a dozen villages so far,” Abdolkarim Setareh, a local official in the epicenter town of Bandar Khamir, told The Associated Press by telephone.

Head of Iran’s disaster headquarters Hossein Baqeri said rescue teams headed to the area. Although the earthquake was strong, the number of fatalities was low, he added.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and averages at least one slight earthquake every day.

In February 2005, a magnitude 6.4 quake in southern Iran killed 612 people. A magnitude 6.6 quake flattened the historic city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26,000 people.

Head of Hormozgan disaster headquarters Yaser Jazbavi said the main damages were inflicted to the town of Qeshm. Emergency departments and hospitals are on alert, he added.  

Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences has also dispatched a team of surgeons to Qeshm, Jazbavi told reporters.

BA/PA

END

MNA