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© RSOE EDIS
A very heavy earthquake just happened in Southern Iran.

At 22:11 (10:11 PM) a very powerful and shallow earthquake occurred in the Iranian desert close to Road 93. Some smaller villages are located at a distance of 10 to 20 km from the epicenter.

These villages are: Kaskuh, Darundeh, Dulab, Nemetabad, Sangabad and Bagerabad.

Due to the kind of fault lines Iran earthquakes and the building methods exceeding M 6 are extremely dangerous. It will take a little before the Iranian press will publish more details on this earthquake (our experience based on many prior earthquakes).

The epicenter location has an error margin of 14.6 km.

USGS has calculated that about 735 people will endure a MMI VIII (Severe shaking). 19,000 people a VII, very strong shaking.

The city of Bam, destructed almost completely in another earthquake in a recent history, will get a V MMI shaking today.

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude: M 6.3
UTC time: Monday, December 20, 2010 at 18:41:59 UTC
Local time at epicenter: Monday, December 20, 2010 at 10:11:59 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter): 12.4 km
Satellite map of the earthquake area + I Did Feel It form
Geo-location(s): Close to the villages of Baravat, Nemetabad, Sangabad and Bagerabad
Closest city: 109 km SE Bam (pop 99,268)

UPDATE 19:25 UTC:

Still no news from Iran. As it is dark and as the epicenter is located in a rural area with only small villages it will take some time before the word gets out.

We keep you updated when more info becomes available.