Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hits Southern Iran

An earthquake measuring 6.0 magnitude has hit the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan and was felt in the United Arab Emirates.

According to the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, the quake took place early on Thursday around 2:45 a.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles).

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said it was a Magnitude 5.8 earthquake and its epicenter was 16 kilometers to Kookherd district and 57 kilometers to Bandar-e Lengeh harbor city.

According to locals, water, electricity and telephone line were out for a few hours in the quake-hit areas.

No casualties or significant damage have been reported so far, but Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that expert teams have been dispatched to the area to assess the damage.

Twitter users in Dubai reported being woken up as their apartment buildings shook from the quake.

Iran is crisscrossed by major geological fault lines and is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world because it is located where the Arabian, Indian, and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

Iran has had a terrible history of massive earthquakes in recent decades, with some killing up to tens of thousands of people and causing billions in damages, such as the magnitude 6.6 quake in Kerman province in 2003 that killed 31,000 people and flattened the ancient city of Bam.