MOSCOW, April 10 (RIA Novosti) – A strong aftershock registering 5.2 on the Richter scale rocked southern Iran on Wednesday, a day after a powerful earthquake caused deadly devastation in the area, US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The aftershock was registered at around 8 a.m. GMT 105 kilometers (65 miles) from Bushehr at a depth of 9.9 kilometers (6.1 miles).
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said at least 87 aftershocks have continued to hit the area since a 6.3-magnitude quake hit the southern Iranian province on Tuesday.
Its epicenter was some 90 kilometers (56 miles) away from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP) and at a depth of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles). At least 37 people were killed and over 850 others were injured by the quake.
Iran has already informed the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency that the Bushehr NPP did not suffer any damage and no radioactive release from the installation has been detected so far.
Russia’s Atomstroyexport, a Rosatom subsidiary which completed construction of the Bushehr NPP, confirmed on Tuesday that the earthquake did not affect the plant and it continues operating normally.