Entire villages razed to rubble: Huge earthquake near Iran nuclear plant kills 37 and leaves families homeless
At least 37 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a 6.1 magnitude earthquake near a nuclear plant in southern Iran on Tuesday, Iranian officials said.
The earthquake struck the town of Kaki some 96 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bushehr, a town on the Persian Gulf that is home of Iran's first nuclear power plant, built with Russian help.
Authorities said it did not damage a nuclear plant in the region.
Devastating: An Iranian woman is seen sitting among the rubble of collapsed buildings in Shonbeh, the district worst hit by the earthquake in southern Iran
Aftermath: A man surveys the damage in Shonbeh following the earthquake, which claimed at least 37 lives and left hundreds more injured
'No damage was done to Bushehr power plant,' Bushehr provincial governor Fereidoun Hasanvand told state TV. He said 37 people died and 850 were injured, including 100 who were hospitalised.
Water and electricity were cut to many residents, said Ebrahim Darvishi, governor of the worst-hit district Shonbeh.
Razed: The earthquake devastated small villages like the area in Bushehr seen in this photograph
Earthquake damage: Crushed houses in the earthquake stricken town of Bushehr in Iran
Shahpour Rostami, the deputy governor of Bushehr province, told state TV that rescue teams have been deployed to Shonbeh. Three helicopters were sent to survey the damaged area before sunset, said Mohammad Mozaffar, the head of Iran's Red Crescent rescue department.
Kaki resident Mondani Hosseini told The Associated Press that people had run out into the streets out of fear.
Iran announced three days of mourning.
Stricken: Men walk past the ruins of a destroyed house in Shonbeh, one of the areas worst affected by yesterday's devastating earthquake
Fatal: Iran has announced three days of mourning in the wake of the disaster, as the death toll reached 37
Comfort: Red Crescent workers tend to a female victim of the earthquake in Shonbeh, Bushehr province
The quake was felt across the Gulf in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where workers were evacuated from high-rise buildings as a precaution.
Earlier on Sunday a lighter earthquake jolted the nearby area. Iran is located on seismic faults and it experiences frequent earthquakes.
In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a 6.6 magnitude quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.
Intense: An intensity map of the area hit by the earthquake on Tuesday, left, and a U.S. geological survey showing the shake map of the tremors that hit the Bandar Bushehr region, right