Quake hits near Iran's nuclear city Bushehr, three dead

DUBAI:  Bushehr (Iran): An earthquake measuring magnitude 6.3 struck on Tuesday 89 km (55 miles) southeast of the city of Bushehr in Iran, where the country's only nuclear power station is located, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported. The Iranian Seismological Centre at the University of Tehran reported a quake of 6.1 magnitude whose epicenter was Kaki, around 60 miles south of Bushehr, a port city on the Gulf. 

 

Witnesses felt the quake across the Gulf in Dubai, and Twitter users in Bahrain reported that offices in Manama had been evacuated after it struck. 

The USGS said the quake struck at 1152 GMT at a depth of 10 km. Three people have been confirmed dead so far.

"We could clearly feel the earthquake," Nikoo, who requested to be identified only by her first name, told Reuters by telephone. "The windows and chandeliers all shook."

State TV did not give any details on the three casualties. Thousands of people live in two villages near the nuclear plant.

Offices in the capitals of Qatar and Bahrain were evacuated after the quake, which was followed by several aftershocks, according to Reuters witnesses and messages on Twitter. The shock was also felt in financial hub Dubai.

The quake was much smaller than the 9.0 magnitude one that hit Japan two years ago, triggering a tsunami that destroyed back-up generators and disabled the Fukushima nuclear plant's cooling system. Three of the reactors melted down.

Gulf Arab countries and Western experts have voiced concerns about the Bushehr plant, built in a highly seismic area. Iran has repeatedly rejected concerns it could be unsafe.

Iran is the only country operating a nuclear power plant that does not belong to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, negotiated after the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl which contaminated wide areas and forced about 160,000 Ukrainians from their homes.

Western officials and the United Nations have urged Iran to join the safety forum.