Powerful earthquake could hit Iran before Tuesday [h=3]World Earthquakes predicts high seismic activity in Iran and Japan in the next 48 hours By
Published Saturday, April 20, 2013
An Iranian man walks past the ruins of a destroyed house in the town of Shonbeh, southeast of Bushehr, on April 10, 2013. (AFP)
Image : 1 / 2
There is a possibility of a powerful earthquake hitting Iran in the next 48 hours, according to the World Earthquakes data.
“High seismic activity may occur for the next 48 hours” in Iran, the World Earthquake said on Friday.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has also predicted that a powerful earthquake that could hit the region between Thursday, April 25, and Tuesday, April 30. But UAE's National Center of Meteorology & Seismology said that it's a rumour and earthquakes cannot be predicted.
On Thursday, A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit northwestern Iran on Thursday, only days after a deadly temblor struck near the border with Pakistan, media reported citing the seismological centre at Tehran.
Last Tuesday, a huge earthquake measuring 7.8 struck southeastern Iran killing a woman and injuring more than a dozen other people. At least 40 people were killed across the border in Pakistan where hundreds of mud homes were levelled. The tremors from the earthquake were felt across the Gulf region.
Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.
Tuesday's earthquake was the strongest to hit Iran since 1957.
A double earthquake, one measuring 6.2 and the other 6.0, struck northwestern Iran last August, killing more than 300 people and injuring 3,000.
The World Earthquakes also warned of another powerful quake possibly hitting Japan in the next 48 hours.
On Friday, a major 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off northern Japan on Friday, seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.