Iran quake kills 34 in Pak, felt in India, Gulf states

Tehran, April 16: A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Iran--the strongest to hit the country in 40 years--killing 34 in a border region in Pakistan on Tuesday which bore the brunt and unleashed tremors in northwest India and Gulf Arab states.

There was no official word on any casualties in Iran in the second powerful quake in a week.

Iranian state TV initially said at least 40 people were killed in Iran but it had no official confirmation, as conflicting reports on casualties emerged from that country.

There were reports at least 100 people were feared killed while some said there were only reports of injuries.

In India, the tremors shook north India and Gujarat at 4.14 pm pulling panic-stricken people out of their homes and offices, hours after two smaller tremors jolted Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha, leaving a child dead in a mudsling in Assam.

There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualty in the tremors in India caused by the powerful quake centered near Saravan, a remote and sparsely populated mountainous region area about 48 km from the Pakistani border.

The US Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude at 7.8 and at a depth of 15.2 km.

Nuclear plants in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan remained unaffected by the earthquake, Nalinish Nagaich, Executive Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said in Delhi.

"I was inside my office in Connaught Place. I felt the chair trembling and rushed out of office," said Priya Dev, a chartered accountant in Delhi where buildings swayed.

The quake struck less than a week after a 6.1 magnitude quake hit near Bushehr, on Iran's Persian Gulf coast, killing at least 37 people.

In Pakistan, the 34 deaths were recorded in the remote Panjgur and Kharan districts of Balochistan, TV news channels quoted officials as saying. Eight children and two women were among the dead.

The Mashkel area was hit hardest by the quake and hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged in the affected regions, reports said. In Karachi, several persons were injured when a building collapsed.

Geo News reported that urban centres of Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Abbottabad, Islamabad and Lahore were also jolted.

The quake was also felt in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It shook buildings and there were reports that high-rise offices were evacuated in Abu Dhabi.