Quake jolts southern Iran

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook southern Iran today, Tehran’s seismologic centre said.

There were unconfirmed reports of injuries.

The quake jolted the major port city of Bandar Abbas, home to half a million people, and Qeshm Island, 932 miles south of Tehran, the capital.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 6.1.

Local authorities were not immediately available for comment.

The quake was felt as far away as Oman and the United Arab Emirates, where buildings were evacuated as people sought shelter in the streets.

Alireza Khorshidzadeh, a journalist in Bandar Abbas, said initial reports showed minor damage to some buildings and witnesses reported a few injuries.

“Power and water supplies were not affected. People poured into the streets, fearing aftershocks,” he said.

In Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the UAE, buildings were evacuated, with people scrambling for safety.

“We’re all agreed that it lasted around 30 seconds or so – you could feel the building moving and the coffee cups shaking,” said Bina Mathews, a public relations executive.

Several buildings along Dubai’s Sheik Zayed Road, the skyscraper-lined central business district, have been evacuated, including the twin Emirates Towers, the highest buildings on the street, where many international corporations and Dubai government institutions have offices.

A magnitude-5 quake can damage houses and buildings in densely populated areas.

Iran is located on a number of seismic fault lines and, on average, experiences at least one slight quake every day.

The last major quake to hit southern Iran came in February, when a 6.4-magnitude rocked Zarand, a town of about 15,000 people in Kerman province, about 602 miles southeast of Tehran.

It killed 612 people and injured more than 1,400, levelling several villages and leaving thousands of people homeless.