Magnitude 5.1 earthquake strikes near Iran’s Nuclear Plant, No damage reported
Biznextindia : A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck near the Bushehr Nuclear Plant located in the Bushehr province of Iran early Friday. Though the intensity of the tremor is low, the location of the Nuclear Plant has raised fears of Japan like catastrophe.
The Centre of the earthquake was about 50 kilometers away from the nuclear plant. The quake hit Iran’s Bushehr province at 5:23 a.m. It put the magnitude at 5.1 and the depth of the earthquake at 38 kilometers (24 miles), the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.
Felt #earthquake (#زلزله) M5.1 strikes 58 km E of Bandar Būshehr (#Iran) 35 min ago. Please report to: https://t.co/z4iFgGvNOm pic.twitter.com/F89szQwTec
— EMSC (@LastQuake) December 27, 2019
Though the Iranian state media is yet to report the earthquake, the Iranian Seismological Centre at the University of Tehran has reported that there were 3 earthquakes recorded in Bushehr province on Friday and the strongest among them was 4.9 at the Richer scale.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Though the Bushehr nuclear power plant is designed to withstand much stronger earthquakes a magnitude 5 earthquake can cause considerable damage.
Iran sits on major fault lines and is prone to near-daily earthquakes. In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake flattened the historic city of Bam, killing 26,000 people. Bam is near the Bushehr nuclear plant, which wasn’t damaged at that time.