Published April 16, 2013
FoxNews.com
April 16, 2013: Office workers stand outside of their buildings following an earthquake tremor in Karachi. An magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Iran on Tuesday with tremors felt across Pakistan among other regions, media reported. (Reuters)
DEVELOPING: At least 40 are dead after a major earthquake struck Tuesday near the Iran-Pakistan border, Iranian State TV says.
An Iranian official told Reuters that hundreds more are feared dead.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude of the earthquake at 7.8 and at a depth of nine miles, and Iran's seismological center said it was centered near Saravan, a sparsely populated area about 26 miles from the Pakistani border. Iranian state TV said power and communications systems were down in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan.
The quake struck less than a week after a magnitude-6.1 quake hit near Bushehr, on Iran's Persian Gulf coast, killing at least 37 people and raising calls for greater international safety inspections at the country's long energy-producing nuclear reactor.
The Russian company that built the Bushehr plant said the Tuesday earthquake did not damage the facility, Reuters reports.
The quake was also felt over a vast area from New Delhi to Gulf cities that have some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including the record 2,717 -foot Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Officials ordered temporary evacuations from some high-rises as a precaution.
Pakistani news channels showed buildings shaking in the southern city of Karachi, where people in panic came out from offices and homes. There was no immediate word on any damage and people were seen standing outside their homes and offices even minutes after the quack rattled various parts of the country.
In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude-6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern Iranian city of Bam.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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