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6.3 magnitude quake strikes near Bushehr nuke facility in Iran
RT
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake has struck near Bushehr in Iran, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The area is home to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which is located just 11 miles southeast of the city. The quake has been given "orange alert level" by the USGS. An orange alert means that significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread.
The earthquake's epicenter was 89 kilometers (55 miles) away from the plant. The depth of the quake was 10 km (6.2miles). The Bushehr power plant is the country's only operational nuclear power station; it is capable to withstand quakes stronger than 6.3 magnitude, a design engineer told RIA Novosti. People on social media reported feeling the quake in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. There were no immediate reports of damages.
Bushehr, which is home to around 160,000 people, is located on Iran's southwestern coastal region. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in December another plant is slated for construction next to the Bushehr plant. Iran extends across several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes. In August 2012, two quakes in Northwestern Iran claimed the lives of 306 people and injured more than 4,500 others.
6.3 magnitude quake strikes near Bushehr nuke facility in Iran
RT
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake has struck near Bushehr in Iran, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The area is home to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which is located just 11 miles southeast of the city. The quake has been given "orange alert level" by the USGS. An orange alert means that significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread.
The earthquake's epicenter was 89 kilometers (55 miles) away from the plant. The depth of the quake was 10 km (6.2miles). The Bushehr power plant is the country's only operational nuclear power station; it is capable to withstand quakes stronger than 6.3 magnitude, a design engineer told RIA Novosti. People on social media reported feeling the quake in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. There were no immediate reports of damages.
Bushehr, which is home to around 160,000 people, is located on Iran's southwestern coastal region. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in December another plant is slated for construction next to the Bushehr plant. Iran extends across several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes. In August 2012, two quakes in Northwestern Iran claimed the lives of 306 people and injured more than 4,500 others.
به گزارش خبرنگار مهر، ساعت 16 و 22 دقيقه امروز سه شنبه زمين لزره اي به بزرگي 6.1 ريشتر كاكي در استان بوشهر را لزراند.
فرماندار دشتی در گفتگو با شبکه خبر گزارش داده که بر اساس آمار اوليه دستكم سه نفر در اين زلزله جان خود را از دست داده اند.
رئيس سازمان امداد و نجات جمعيت هلال احمر نيز در اين رابطه به شبکه خبر گفت: حدود 10 هزار نفر در منطقه مذكور زندگي مي كنند.
محمود مظفر ادامه داد: به دنبال وقوع اين زمين لرزه تيمهاي ارزيابي به محل اعزام شده و تاكنون ترك خوردگي منازل گزارش شده است.
وي اظهار داشت: در حال حاضر تيمهاي ارزيابي در محل هستند.
فرماندار دشتی در گفتگو با شبکه خبر گزارش داده که بر اساس آمار اوليه دستكم سه نفر در اين زلزله جان خود را از دست داده اند.
رئيس سازمان امداد و نجات جمعيت هلال احمر نيز در اين رابطه به شبکه خبر گفت: حدود 10 هزار نفر در منطقه مذكور زندگي مي كنند.
محمود مظفر ادامه داد: به دنبال وقوع اين زمين لرزه تيمهاي ارزيابي به محل اعزام شده و تاكنون ترك خوردگي منازل گزارش شده است.
وي اظهار داشت: در حال حاضر تيمهاي ارزيابي در محل هستند.
They say Bushehr is designed to withstand an 8 earthquake, but I wouldn't put my money on it. First of all no one uses the Richter scale anymore when it comes to building design and secondly most reactors in the US and Japan aren't designed for 0.5 g acceleration on the PGA scale, which would be equivalent to 8 on the Richter scale. If I had to guess, a 7 earthquake would cause major damage at Bushehr.
Iran quake kills 30, injures hundreds
By CNN Staff
updated 1:40 PM EDT, Tue April 9, 2013
(CNN) -- A powerful earthquake struck southern Iran on Tuesday, killing at least 32 people but apparently sparing the nearby Bushehr nuclear plant from any damage, Iranian state media reported.
The magnitude-6.3 quake was centered about 100 kilometers (63 miles) southeast of the plant, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The government-run Press TV network, citing Bushehr's governor, said the single-reactor facility was undamaged.
The state-run IRNA news agency cited a plant executive as saying the facility's distance from the epicenter was the reason for the lack of damage.
However, the quake "ruined" the city of Kaki, which is near the epicenter, the state-run IRNA news agency said.
The cities of Kormouj, Dayer and Kangan and the villages of Shanbe and Sana were also seriously damaged, IRNA reported.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society sent five assessment teams to coordinate rescue operations, IRNA reported, saying ambulances were sent from Tehran to assist in the rescue effort. The semi-official Fars news agency said helicopters also have been sent to help.
At least three strong aftershocks struck the same area in the hour following the quake Tuesday, according to the USGS, and Press TV said authorities expect the number of casualties to rise.
The earthquake could be felt across the Persian Gulf in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where some buildings in Abu Dhabi were evacuated and some businesses sent their employees home for the day.
Interactive map: World's biggest earthquakes since 1900
It was not immediately clear whether the Bushehr plant was continuing to operate in the wake of the earthquake.
Iran began construction on the plant in 1975, before the country's Islamic revolution. Russia stepped in during the 1990s to finish construction of the plant, which the International Atomic Energy Agency says first connected to Iran's electrical grid in 2011.
Interactive: Measuring the magnitude of earthquakes
The damage that earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.0 to 6.9 can produce varies widely. Near the epicenter, quakes on the lower to middle parts of that range could leave negligible to slight damage in buildings of good design, and considerable to great damage -- such as broken or fallen walls -- in poorly designed structures, according to the USGS.
By CNN Staff
updated 1:40 PM EDT, Tue April 9, 2013
(CNN) -- A powerful earthquake struck southern Iran on Tuesday, killing at least 32 people but apparently sparing the nearby Bushehr nuclear plant from any damage, Iranian state media reported.
The magnitude-6.3 quake was centered about 100 kilometers (63 miles) southeast of the plant, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The government-run Press TV network, citing Bushehr's governor, said the single-reactor facility was undamaged.
The state-run IRNA news agency cited a plant executive as saying the facility's distance from the epicenter was the reason for the lack of damage.
However, the quake "ruined" the city of Kaki, which is near the epicenter, the state-run IRNA news agency said.
The cities of Kormouj, Dayer and Kangan and the villages of Shanbe and Sana were also seriously damaged, IRNA reported.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society sent five assessment teams to coordinate rescue operations, IRNA reported, saying ambulances were sent from Tehran to assist in the rescue effort. The semi-official Fars news agency said helicopters also have been sent to help.
At least three strong aftershocks struck the same area in the hour following the quake Tuesday, according to the USGS, and Press TV said authorities expect the number of casualties to rise.
The earthquake could be felt across the Persian Gulf in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where some buildings in Abu Dhabi were evacuated and some businesses sent their employees home for the day.
Interactive map: World's biggest earthquakes since 1900
It was not immediately clear whether the Bushehr plant was continuing to operate in the wake of the earthquake.
Iran began construction on the plant in 1975, before the country's Islamic revolution. Russia stepped in during the 1990s to finish construction of the plant, which the International Atomic Energy Agency says first connected to Iran's electrical grid in 2011.
Interactive: Measuring the magnitude of earthquakes
The damage that earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.0 to 6.9 can produce varies widely. Near the epicenter, quakes on the lower to middle parts of that range could leave negligible to slight damage in buildings of good design, and considerable to great damage -- such as broken or fallen walls -- in poorly designed structures, according to the USGS.
Deadly quake in south-west Iran's Bushehr province
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake has killed more than 30 people and injured 850 in south-west Iran, officials say.
Rescue teams have been sent to the affected area, but darkness is hampering rescue operations.
The quake struck 90km (60 miles) south of the country's only nuclear power station in Bushehr, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says.
However, the nuclear plant has not been affected and is working normally, officials have said.
The quake was felt across the Gulf in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
Bushehr's governor Fereydun Hasanvand told Iranian television that of those wounded, 750 had "minor injuries" and the rest had been sent to provincial hospitals.
Some 10,000 people are thought to live in the affected area in more than 50 villages, two of which have reportedly been completely levelled.
Mr Hasanvand said 700 houses have been damaged and 200 families affected.
The governor's office has sent generators to the area so rescue operation can continue overnight, the BBC's Mohsen Asgari in Tehran reports.
Iran's Red Crescent organisation hopes to end the rescue operation by daybreak, our correspondent adds.
Seismologists said the quake struck at 16:22 (11:52 GMT) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles) near the town of Kaki, south of Bushehr - a Gulf port city that is home to Iran's first and only nuclear power plant.
Iran's seismological centre in Bushehr province, linked to Tehran University, registered the quake at a magnitude of 6.1.
Fault line
Tens of aftershocks - the strongest measuring a magnitude of 5.4 - struck within an hour, sending many people into the streets for safety.
State media reported that phone lines had been brought down by the quake and its aftershocks.
The earthquake shook buildings across the Gulf.
"Our entire building started to wobble from side to side for around 30 seconds or so," Phil Stevens, working on the 10th floor of a building in Abu Dhabi, told the BBC.
"It was a very strange sensation, rather like being on a rocking boat. We evacuated our office and quickly learned of the earthquake in Iran."
The governor of Bushehr, Fereydoun Hassanvand, told Iranian state TV that the nuclear plant was not damaged.
An official with the Russian firm Atomstroyexport told Russian media that the quake "in no way affected the normal situation at the reactor".
"Personnel continue to work in the normal regime and radiation levels are fully within the norm," the official was quoted by Russian state news agency Ria as saying.
Iran's nuclear programme has roused concern among major powers that Tehran wants to build nuclear weapons - a charge Iran strongly denies.
Iran straddles a major geological fault line, making it prone to seismic activity. In 2003, an earthquake in the city of Bam left more than 25,000 people dead.
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake has killed more than 30 people and injured 850 in south-west Iran, officials say.
Rescue teams have been sent to the affected area, but darkness is hampering rescue operations.
The quake struck 90km (60 miles) south of the country's only nuclear power station in Bushehr, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says.
However, the nuclear plant has not been affected and is working normally, officials have said.
The quake was felt across the Gulf in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
Bushehr's governor Fereydun Hasanvand told Iranian television that of those wounded, 750 had "minor injuries" and the rest had been sent to provincial hospitals.
Some 10,000 people are thought to live in the affected area in more than 50 villages, two of which have reportedly been completely levelled.
Mr Hasanvand said 700 houses have been damaged and 200 families affected.
The governor's office has sent generators to the area so rescue operation can continue overnight, the BBC's Mohsen Asgari in Tehran reports.
Iran's Red Crescent organisation hopes to end the rescue operation by daybreak, our correspondent adds.
Seismologists said the quake struck at 16:22 (11:52 GMT) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles) near the town of Kaki, south of Bushehr - a Gulf port city that is home to Iran's first and only nuclear power plant.
Iran's seismological centre in Bushehr province, linked to Tehran University, registered the quake at a magnitude of 6.1.
Fault line
Tens of aftershocks - the strongest measuring a magnitude of 5.4 - struck within an hour, sending many people into the streets for safety.
State media reported that phone lines had been brought down by the quake and its aftershocks.
The earthquake shook buildings across the Gulf.
"Our entire building started to wobble from side to side for around 30 seconds or so," Phil Stevens, working on the 10th floor of a building in Abu Dhabi, told the BBC.
"It was a very strange sensation, rather like being on a rocking boat. We evacuated our office and quickly learned of the earthquake in Iran."
The governor of Bushehr, Fereydoun Hassanvand, told Iranian state TV that the nuclear plant was not damaged.
An official with the Russian firm Atomstroyexport told Russian media that the quake "in no way affected the normal situation at the reactor".
"Personnel continue to work in the normal regime and radiation levels are fully within the norm," the official was quoted by Russian state news agency Ria as saying.
Iran's nuclear programme has roused concern among major powers that Tehran wants to build nuclear weapons - a charge Iran strongly denies.
Iran straddles a major geological fault line, making it prone to seismic activity. In 2003, an earthquake in the city of Bam left more than 25,000 people dead.
