By Ismail Auwal
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 has struck near Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, destroying a number of homes near the epicenter, local officials and residents say. Shaking was felt as far away as Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.
The Independent newspaper reported that, the extent of the damage near the epicenter was not immediately clear, but the ISNA news agency said “a number” of homes were destroyed in Bandar Abbas. There were no reports of serious damage in the UAE.
Computer models from the USGS estimate that up to 20 million people could have felt Sunday’s earthquake, including 33,000 people who may have felt “strong” to “very strong” shaking. It said some casualties are likely but that the impact should be “relatively localized.”
Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is regularly hit by moderate and strong tremors. Earthquakes with relatively low magnitudes have often resulted in serious damage and large numbers of casualties due to poor construction.
Some 31,000 people were killed in December 2003 when a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Bam in southeast Iran, causing widespread devastation. The country’s worst-ever earthquake happened in the year 856, killing an estimated 200,000 people.
