6.1-mangitude quake jolts Bushehr in southern Iran, kills 33

A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale has struck the town of Kaki near the southern Iranian city of Bushehr, killing at least 33 people and leaving more than 850 injured.

According to the Iranian Seismological Center, the quake has hit the town of Kaki, some 90 kilometers southeast of Bushehr, at 4:22 pm local time (1152 GMT) on Tuesday at a depth of 12 kilometers.

The quake was followed by at least four aftershocks which jolted Kaki and the nearby city of Khour-Mowj.

The Persian Gulf Arab states of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have also felt the shocks from the quake.

The Russian company that has constructed the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant said the quake has not affected the operations in the facility.

The plant is located 18 km south of Bushehr and about 160 kilometers away from the quake-stricken region.

“The earthquake in no way affected the normal situation at the [Bushehr nuclear] reactor. Personnel continue to work in the normal regime and radiation levels are fully within the norm,” RIA Novosti quoted an official at Atomstroyexport as saying.

The governor of Bushehr also told reporters that the power plant has not been damaged in the quake.

Iran, which sits astride several fault lines, is prone to frequent earthquakes.

Search and rescue operation is underway in the quake-hit region.

In December 2010, a big quake killed 31,000 people in the southeastern city of Bam.