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29 March 2024

Why UAE didn't feel tremors from Iran quake this morning

Published
By Bindu Rai

The UAE’s seismology department has stated that the country did not experience tremors in wake of Iran’s 6.1-magnitude earthquake that reportedly injured 60 people.

Iran’s state news agency Irna also reported property damage while water, electricity, and telephone lines in Abdanan, in the province of Ilam, have been cut.

Aftershocks could be felt in three provinces including Ilam, Lorestan and Khuzestan, Irna added.

A series of minor seismic activities were reported in the UAE following the temblor, even as Kuwait reportedly experienced tremors after the sparsely populated mountainous province near Iran’s border with Iraq was jolted by the earthquake on Monday morning.

An Earthquake Map on the website of the National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) indicated at least five seismic events in the Gulf, with the strongest being a 3.3 ML (local magnitude) scale tremor in the Arabian Gulf, 59km northwest of the Abu Musa island.

A spokesperson of the NCMS told Emirates 24|7: “There were no tremors felt across the UAE in the wake of the seismic activities reported in the area.

“Plus, the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that hit at 6.32am UAE time was over 1,000km away and too far for the country to feel the impact. Even the corresponding two aftershocks and Sunday’s tremors near the Iran-Iraq border were not experienced in these parts.”

The earthquake struck western Iran on Monday, near the provincial capital of Dezful, about 480km from Tehran, according to the US Geological Survey, impacting the town of Murmuri.

The Iran quake, at a depth of 10km, struck hours after an earlier one hit on Sunday measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale near the town of Damavand in Iran’s northern province of Mazandaran.

According to a report by the Seismological Centre of the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University, the first earthquake hit Larijan area at 3.55am.

The NCMS seismologist further added: “Iran sits on major geological fault lines and has suffered several big earthquakes in recent years, especially the Zagros mountain range in that sits on the border of the Iran and Arab tectonic plates.

“In the past, the UAE has experienced tremors following an earthquake of a large magnitude in Iran, but this only happens when it measures 6 or more on the Richter scale and is 300km from the UAE.”

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that caused extensive damage to the south eastern city of Bam. There were no reports of fatalities but a local official said there were injuries and that the temblor had caused damage.