6.3-magnitude earthquake hits southeast Iran: USGS

TEHRAN: A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck southeastern Iran near the city of Kerman on Friday (Dec 1), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake, which was relatively shallow, 50 km) northeast of Kerman, which has a population of more than 821,000.

A magnitude 6.3 quake is considered strong and is capable of causing severe damage.

The latest tremors come just over two weeks after a 7.3-magnitude quake killed more than 400 people in western Kermanshah province, close to the border with neighbouring Iraq.

Iran sits on top of two major tectonic plates and sees frequent seismic activity.

In 1990, a 7.4-magnitude quake in northern Iran killed 40,000 people, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless, reducing dozens of towns and nearly 2,000 villages to rubble.

Thirteen years later, a catastrophic quake flattened swathes of the ancient southeastern Iranian city of Bam, killing at least 31,000.

Iran has experienced at least two major quake disasters since - one in 2005 that killed more than 600 people and another in 2012 that left some 300 dead.