Strong earthquake hits Iran's southeastern provinceJanuary 22, 2013 - 09:42 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale has struck Iran's southeastern province of Kerman, but there have been no immediate reports of casualties or damage, Press TV reported. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said that the tremor hit at 23:19:02 local time (19:49:02 GMT) on Monday, Jan 21. The epicenter of the quake was located 38 kilometers northeast of the city of Kerman. The director of the Kerman office of the Red Crescent Society told IRNA that rescue teams have been dispatched to the city of Sirch. Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences at least one slight earthquake every day on average. The deadliest earthquake to hit Iran in recent years happened on December 26, 2003, when a 6.6 magnitude quake struck Bam city and the surrounding areas in Kerman province. The destructive earthquake left 26,271 people dead and 30,000 injured. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |