Major earthquake hits Iran border

(Vatican Radio) A major earthquake described as the strongest to hit Iran in more 40 years flattened homes and offices Tuesday on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake was centred near the south-east city of Khash, near the Iranian border with Pakistan in a sparsely populated mountainous area. but it was also felt as far away as New Delhi in India and the Gulf states.
Mahdi Zare of Tehran's Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology told Press TV that the tremors were felt across an enormous area.
There were conflicting reports on casualties but its thought a number of people were killed in Pakistan.

This was the second major earthquake to hit Iran in less than a week after a magnitude 6.1 temblor struck near Bushehr, on Iran's Persian Gulf coast, killing at least 37 people.

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern Iranian city of Bam. Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report