PENSAMENTOS SOBRE O UNI E O VERSO: HAARP? Hundreds feared dead as 'biggest quake in 40 years' hits near Iran's border with Pakistan

terça-feira, 16 de abril de 2013

HAARP? Hundreds feared dead as 'biggest quake in 40 years' hits near Iran's border with Pakistan

PUBLISHED: 12:29 GMT, 16 April 2013 | UPDATED: 22:56 GMT, 16 April 2013

A major earthquake on the Iran border killed at least 35 people in neighbouring Pakistan yesterday.

Pakistani officials said hundreds of houses had been destroyed, while Iran appeared to have emerged relatively unscathed with reports that just 27 people were injured.

The epicentre of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake was measured at 51 miles below ground, which was the likely reason for the relatively low level of damage in Iran.

However, a number of remote Pakistani villages took the brunt of the shockwave, with many reporting rising death tolls.

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People evacuate buildings bringing traffic to a halt in Karachi, Pakistan, the city nearest the border with Iran where a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck

Early reports suggest that 40 have so far died but there is no information on damage. Pictured here is the aftermath in Karachi in Pakistan, which was also shaken

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at 10.44 GMT at a depth of 9.4 miles.

People in the city of Zahedan poured into the streets when the earthquake struck, Iran's Fars news agency reported.

All communications in the area have been cut, the Iranian Red Crescent's Mahmoud Mozaffar told state television. Rescue teams have been dispatched to the affected area, he said.

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'In the aftermath of this earthquake five evaluation teams from the Khash and Saravan branches were sent to the area to assess damage,' Mozaffar said.

The epicenter was in southeast Iran in an area of mountains and desert, 125 miles south-east of Zahedan and 2155 miles north-west of Turbat in Pakistan, USGS said.

On April 9, a powerful 6.3 magnitude quake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station, killing 37 people, injuring 850 and devastating two villages.

The epicenter was in southeast Iran in an area of mountains and desert, 125 miles south-east of Zahedan and 2155 miles north-west of Turbat in Pakistan

This quake also shook tall buildings in India's capital New Delhi, sending people running into the streets, witnesses said

A Pakistani woman worker uses her mobile phone after she was evacuated along with hundreds of other workers in Karachi

Most of Iran's nuclear-related facilities are located in central Iran or its west, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Gulf coast.

A U.S. Institute for Science and International Security map did not show any nuclear-linked facilities in south-eastern Iran close to Pakistan.

Iran sits on major geological faultlines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 that flattened the city of Bam, in Iran's far south-east, killing more than 25,000 people.

This quake also shook tall buildings in India's capital New Delhi, sending people running into the streets, witnesses said. People also evacuated buildings in Qatar and Dubai, residents said.

'I was working and my work station was shaking,' said Viidhu Sekhri, 35, an underwriter at a New Delhi insurance company. 'Then it was a bit shaky so we just rushed outside.'

Earlier in the day two smaller tremors were felt in India's Himalayan region close to the Chinese border.

An official at India's disaster management authority said the tremors felt in New Delhi and across northern India were because of the earthquake in Iran.

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