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Bushehr Nuclear Plant Unaffected by Iran Earthquake

16 April 2013 21:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iran’s first nuclear power plant in Bushehr was not affected by the devastating earthquake that hit the country on Tuesday, Russia’s Federal Atomic Agency Rosatom said, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

“It’s business as usual at the station,” a Rosatom representative told RIA Novosti. “The station did not even feel any tremors as a result of the earthquake.”

At least 40 people were killed when a huge earthquake struck southeastern Iran on Tuesday, Press TV reported. The earthquake, with an estimated force of 7.5 on the Richter scale, hit the provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan near the border with Pakistan at 03:44 p.m. local time.

The Bushehr NPP is located about 160 kilometers away from the quake-stricken areas.

The Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC) said the epicenter of the quake, which occurred at a depth of 18 kilometers (11 miles), was 95 kilometers (57 miles) north of the city of Saravan, the IRNA news agency said.

Shockwaves were felt in neighboring countries and as far away as India's capital New Delhi. The earthquake was also felt in the Persian Gulf's littoral states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

According to Press TV, at least nine people have been killed and 100 others injured in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, which borders Iran.

Officials and local sources told Press TV that several houses were destroyed by the earthquake in the Panjgur District near the Iranian border on Tuesday, killing five people, including two women.

Relief teams have been dispatched to the area, Mahmoud Mozafar, head of Relief and Rescue Operations at Iran’s Red Crescent Society, told IRNA on Tuesday.

Earthquakes are a common occurrence in Iran due to the convergence of four major tectonic plates in the region, according to the US Geological Survey.