[QODLink]
Middle East
Earthquake hits southern Iran
Powerful quake rocks mountainous area with no immediate word on any casualties or damages.
Last Modified: 26 Nov 2010 16:15 GMT
Iran sits across several major fault lines in the Earth's crust and is prone to frequent earthquakes [EPA]

A powerful earthquake has struck a mountainous area near a southern Iranian city, but there have been no reports of casualties or damages, Iranian state TV says.

"The quake took place at 1233 GMT near Firouzabad in the Fars province. It jolted the mountainous area,"  the official IRNA news agency quoted Tehran University's Seismological Centre as saying on Friday.

"So far there has been no reports of possible casualties," IRNA said.

The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 5.6 and said it was 10.1km deep.

Iran is criss-crossed by major faultlines and is frequently hit by earthquakes.

In 2008, a magnitude 6.1 quake struck Bandar Abbas, on the mainland near the southern Qeshm island, killing at least seven people and injuring 40 others.

An earthquake in 2003 flattened the desert citadel city of Bam and killed 31,000 people.

Source:
Reuters
Topics in this article
Country
City
Organisation
Featured on Al Jazeera
An interactive dashboard examines the history, successes and challenges facing the group.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Fallout from rare strike at Arabtec Construction continues.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Featured
News and analysis of 2013 presidential contest as Ahmadinejad finishes second term.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Two years since the start of the uprising, rebels and Assad's forces remain locked in conflict.
Fallout from rare strike at Arabtec Construction continues.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
join our mailing list