Powerful quake kills 400 in Iran

NDTV: "At least 400 people are feared dead in a powerful earthquake in southeast Iran. The epicenter of the 6.4-magnitude quake, which struck at 5:55 a.m local time, was on the outskirts of Zarand, according to the seismological unit of Tehran University's Geophysics Institute.

Zarand, is a small, central Iranian town of about 15,000 people in Kerman province. The quake has virtually wiped out villages near Zarand. Close to 80 per cent of buildings in Sarbagh, one of the villages affected by the quake, were destroyed. However, Iranian officials insist the quake was not as bad as the killer quake that killed 30,000 people in the historic city of Bam in December 2003.

Iran, which is at the confluence of three of the Earth's plates, has at least a minor earthquake almost every day."