IRAN: At least 10 people were killed and 50 injured when an earthquake razed mud-brick villages on the Gulf island of Qeshm off Iran's south coast yesterday.
Iran's official news agency Irna said the quake, with a magnitude of 5.9, shook southern Iran for about 10 to 15 seconds just before 2pm local time.The US Geological Survey said it was a 6.1.
Tahereh Irankhah, a volunteer with the Red Crescent relief agency in Qeshm, said the main hospital on the island was struggling to keep up with the number of patients. "The number of people injured is very high," she said, "and people are in the corridors. We need tents and blankets."
State media said there were three strong aftershocks.
State television quoted the disaster centre in the province of Hormuzgan, which administrates Qeshm, saying 10 people were killed. Regional governor Heidar Alishvandi said 50 were injured.
Mohsen Kazemi from the Red Crescent said the four hardest hit villages were Tonban, Gavarzin, Khaledin and Gourian.
Qeshm is the biggest island in the Gulf and is a free-trade zone in southern Hormuzgan province with a population of about 120,000. It is famed for its palm forests and its beaches are much loved by tourists and nesting sea turtles.
The epicentre of the quake was about 58km (36 miles) southwest of the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas. There is a large refinery there, but state television quoted Iran's Opec governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, as saying the country's oil output and production facilities had not been affected.
This was the first fatal quake in Iran since February when more than 600 people died in a magnitude 6.4 tremor, centred on the town of Zarand about 700km (440 miles) southeast of Tehran. That revived painful memories of the devastating 6.8-magnitude quake in 2003 which killed 31,000 people in the desert citadel city of Bam, 1,000km (621 miles) southeast of Tehran.