Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
rferl.org – A powerful earthquake rocked southern Iran overnight, officials reported on July 2.
Iranian state television reported that at least five people had been killed and 80 injured in the magnitude 6.3 earthquake, the epicenter of which was some 1,000 kilometers south of Tehran in Hormozgan Province.
Rescue workers were on the scene as aftershocks continued to drive locals into the streets.
The early morning earthquake damaged dozens of buildings and other structures in the village of Sayeh Khosh, where about 300 people live. Homozgan Governor Mehdi Dousti told the IRNA news agency that Sayeh Khosh was largely destroyed.
It was not clear where the fatalities occurred.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi traveled to the province on July 2 and told journalists that the government’s top priority was to restore water and electricity service in the affected areas.
Iran straddles several tectonic plates and is crisscrossed by seismic fault lines.
In 1990, the country was struck by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in the northern part of the country that killed more than 40,000 people. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 quake in southern Kerman Province left more than 31,000 people dead.
