Earthquake today: A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Iran near the Iran-Pakistan border today, killing at least six people in Pakistan, officials said.
Following the initial quake, a 4.4-magnitude aftershock rocked the Iranian city of Saravan, where around 250,000 people live. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
State-run Press TV denied that more than 40 people were killed in Iran during the first quake. It said that five people had been injured instead.
Iran’s Red Crescent said the quake set up a “complicated emergency situation,” according to The Associated Press. The tremor was felt as far away as New Delhi, India, where tall buildings shook.
The quake was also felt in nearby Middle Eastern countries, including Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, according to Press TV.
“I definitely felt the walls shaking. It lasted for about 25 seconds,” said Michael Stephens, who is based in Qatar, reported the BBC.
Officials and sources told Press TV that several homes were destroyed. A spokesperson for the Bushehr nuclear power plant said the temblor did not adversely impact the facility.
“The epicenter of the quake was located in the desert, and population centers do not surround it. There were no fatalities in the towns around the epicenter,” Iranian crisis center official Morteza Akbarpour told state-run media, according to the BBC.
The quake hit the province of Sistan Baluchistan, one of the most impoverished areas in Iran.