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Tremors also felt in UAE, Qatar as earthquake hits Iran
Residents in the UAE, Qatar and other Gulf nations reported tremors on Tuesday, as a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Iran.
The earthquake struck just before 4pm UAE time, 66 miles southeast of the city of Bushehr in Iran, where the country's only nuclear power station is based, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
Three people have been killed in Iran following the incident, media reported.
The Iranian Seismological Centre at the University of Tehran reported a 6.1 magnitude quake with and epicentre at Kaki, around 60 miles south of Bushehr, a port city on the Gulf.
TREMORS AROUND GULF
Residents reported tremors in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.
An earthquake has struck South of Iran measuring 6.2. The tremors were felt in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah because of its epicentre, the UAE's National Centre of Metereology and Seismology told Emirates 24/7.
The spokesperson added: "The earthquake struck at 3.52pm UAE time, with its epicentre in Shiraz located 500km from Abu Dhabi. The extent to which UAE residents felt the tremors was 4.0 in magnitude."
EVACUATIONS
In Doha, some buildings were evacuated, residents said.
Rami Mansour, a Doha resident who works in the Musherieb area, told Yahoo! Maktoob: "We were just sitting in the office and the whole floor was shaking for about five seconds or something. I thought my colleague was shaking the table."
Elsewhere slight tremors were felt in the UAE as well.
"We are on the 139 floor of Burj Khalifa, the tallest office in world was shook! [sic] 7 of us felt dizzy whilst the hanging lamps where [sic] dancing! Strange!" he commented, adding that rescue operators in the building weren't aware of the quake.
Resident Sherif Salem tweeted: "minor tremor in #Abu Dhabi just now," but not everyone felt it as reader Donald commented: "Yes I felt it around 4:00PM Abu Dhabi, but not everyone in our office felt it."
The USGS said the quake struck at 1152 GMT at a depth of 10 km.
Quake hits near Iran's nuclear city Bushehr, three dead!!!(RIP)
(Reuters) - Three people were killed by a powerful earthquake in southern Iran on Tuesday, close to the country's only nuclear power station, state television reported.
The magnitude 6.3 quake struck 89 km (55 miles) southeast of the port city of Bushehr at 0752 am EDT at a depth of 10 km, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported. It was felt strongly on the other side of the Gulf.
The Russian company that built the nuclear power station, 18 km (11 miles) south of Bushehr, said the quake had been felt there but that operations at the plant were not affected.
"The earthquake 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," Russian state news agency RIA quoted an official at Atomstroyexport as saying.
Iran Elsewhere
The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, ranked the quake at a more powerful 6.3 magnitude.
Iranian media said search and rescue teams have been dispatched to the area, to which telephone connection has been cut.
The seismological center has so far reported six after shocks, the strongest at 5.3 magnitude.
Speaking to the ISNA news agency, the head of Iran's Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, said there was a possibility of "damage," considering the rural nature of the stricken area, home to some 12,000 inhabitants.
He did not elaborate.
Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.
