Middle East News
Strong earthquake rocks south-eastern Iran (Roundup)
Dec 20, 2010, 22:47 GMT
Tehran - A strong earthquake shook the south-eastern Iranian province of Kerman on Wednesday night, sending people running onto the streets in panic, state media reported.
The 6.5-magnitude earthquake shook several cities, towns and villages in the province. The epicentre was the village Fahraj near the town of Hossein Abad.
There have been contradictory reports on casualties. A member of the Kerman medical school said that there were casualties in at least the villages but could give no further details.
The local governor's office said that houses in several villages were destroyed, and victims were reported to be buried under the debris. But the office could not immediately confirm that there had been casualties.
According to the several agencies, there were at least two aftershocks ranging from 3.9 and 4.2 magnitude on the Richter scale, and several residential buildings were damaged.
The same province was hit in 2003 by a devastating earthquake, which killed more than 30,000 people in the city of Bam and nearby villages.
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