An earthquake measuring at least magnitude - 5 . 9 shook a sparsely populated area of southern Iran on Sunday , flattening seven villages and killing 10 people , officials said .
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earthquake measure magnitude 5 9 shake sparsely populated area southern iran sunday flatten seven village kill 10 people official say
An earthquake measuring at least magnitude - 5 . 9 <m> shook </m> a sparsely populated area of southern Iran on Sunday , flattening seven villages and killing 10 people , officials said .
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Posted 11 / 27 / 2005 7 : 21 AM
Updated 11 / 27 / 2005 3 : 41 PM
Strong earthquake jolts southern Iran , felt in Oman
An earthquake measuring at least magnitude - 5 . 9 <m> shook </m> a sparsely populated area of southern Iran on Sunday , flattening seven villages and killing 10 people , officials said .
The temblor was felt as far away as Oman and the United Arab Emirates .
Heidar Alishvandi , the governor of Qeshm , was quoted by state - run television as saying rescue teams were deployed to the affected area and people in the wrecked villages moved quickly to safely .
Another provincial official , Ghasem Karami , told The Associated Press that high casualties were not expected because the area was not heavily developed .
Tehran's seismologic center said the quake measured magnitude - 5 . 9 , but the U . S . Geological Survey in Golden , Colo . , said it was a magnitude - 6 . 1 temblor .
A magnitude - 6 . 0 quake can cause severe damage .
Iran's seismologic center said the epicenter was in the waters of the Persian Gulf between the port city of Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island .
The USGS said the quake was 35 miles southwest of Bandar Abbas .
Masoud Dalman , head of Hormozgan province's emergency affairs , said several buildings on Qeshm Island were damaged .
The island , which has about 200 , 000 residents , is about 940 miles south of Tehran , the capital .
Shahram Alamdari , head of the rescue unit for the Iranian Red Crescent , said two helicopters were evacuating injured from Qeshm to Bandar Abbas , a city of 500 , 000 people that also was jolted by the quake .
Iranian television ran video from Qeshm showing minor damages to some buildings and a few injured being taken to hospitals .
The report said the villages of Karavan and Kousheh were worst hit , but no footage was shown from those sites .
The quake cut telephone links between Qeshm Island and the mainland , the report said .
In Oman and the United Arab Emirates , buildings were evacuated and people fled into the streets .
"Power and water supplies were not affected , " said Alireza Khorshidzadeh , a local journalist .
"People poured into the streets , fearing aftershocks . "
In Dubai , one of the seven emirates of the UAE , several buildings in the skyscraper - lined central business district were evacuated .
They included the twin Emirates Towers , the highest buildings on the main street , where many international corporations and Dubai government institutions have offices .
"It lasted around 30 seconds or so — you could feel the building moving and the coffee cups shaking , " said public relations executive Bina Mathews .
Iran is located on a number of seismic fault lines and , on average , experiences at least one slight quake every day .
The last major quake to hit southern Iran was in February , when a magnitude - 6 . 4 temblor rocked Zarand , a town of about 15 , 000 people in Kerman province 602 miles southeast of Tehran .
It killed 612 people and injured more than 1 , 400 , leveling several villages and leaving thousands of people homeless .