A 7.8 magnitude earthquake has rocked Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan near the border with Pakistan.
The Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC) said the epicenter of the quake, which occurred at 15:14 local time at a depth of 18 kilometers on Tuesday, was situated 95 kilometers north of the city of Saravan.
The quake, unprecedented in the past 50 years, prompted officials to declare a state of emergency in the region.
Assessment and evaluation teams as well as rescue teams from the Iranian Red Crescent Society have been dispatched to the quake-stricken area, which is a sparsely populated rural area between the provincial cities of Saravan and Khash.
According to local officials, the Tuesday earthquake has caused no casualties in the quake-stricken areas. The Fars News Agency had earlier reported that 40 people had died as a result of the quake.
The tremor was powerful enough to be felt as far away as New Delhi, India, where it rocked tall buildings.
It was also felt in the Persian Gulf’s littoral states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
According to Press TV correspondent, several are feared dead and 100 others injured in Balochistan province of Pakistan near Iran border.
Officials and local sources told Press TV that several houses were destroyed due to earthquake in Panjgur District near Iran border on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Russian contractor of the Bushehr nuclear power plant has said the quake did not affect the nuclear station.
One confirmed dead in Iran quake
One person has been confirmed dead in a strong 7.8-magnitude earthquake that jolted the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Pakistanis evacuate buildings following tremors in Karachi on April 16, 2013.
Iran earthquake kills 34 people in southwest Pakistan
Thirty-four people have been killed and scores injured in southwestern Pakistan after a powerful earthquake hit Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, near the Pakistani border.
The major temblor measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale hit a sparsely populated rural area between the Iranian provincial cities of Saravan and Khash at a depth of 95 kilometers at 3:14 p.m. local time (1044 GMT) on Tuesday.
Saifur Rehman from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority in Quetta, Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province, reported the death toll in the remote area of Mashkail in Washuk district, which lies a few kilometers from the Iranian border.
Rehman said more than 200 others were also injured after more than 1,000 mud homes in the area were damaged because of the quake.
Tuesday’s earthquake was felt across large parts of Pakistan including Islamabad and the country’s largest city, Karachi, where tremors prompted many to rush out of buildings in terror.
The Pakistani army has been sent to the quake-hit area to help with rescue and relief operations.
