UAE authorities call for calm after earthquake tremors

UAE authorities call for calm after tremors from an earthquake in Iran rattled the country.

Transcript

00:00Good evening. Geologists in the UAE have advised people to stay calm as the country was hit

00:08by tremors stemming from a major earthquake in Iran. At least 45 people have been killed.

00:14Officials in Iran said 40 people had died and reports from Pakistan say five people

00:18were killed in Panjgur, southwest of the country. Tremors from the 7.8 magnitude quake were

00:24also felt in India and the Gulf states. The epicentre was in south-east Iran in an area

00:30of mountains and desert, about 200 km south-east of Zahedan and 250 km north-west of Turbat

00:37in Pakistan, the US Geological Survey said. In comparison to what some are calling the

00:43worst earthquake in Iran in 40 years, aftershocks felt in the UAE were small. Dubai and Abu

00:49Dhabi police said no injuries or damages were logged. Iran is a highly active seismic

00:54zone and earthquakes are normally felt in the UAE. The National Centre of Meteorology

01:00and Seismology has advised people to remain calm, noting that an earthquake of this magnitude

01:05occurring far away causes small tremors by comparison. An hour after the initial tremors

01:11were felt in the UAE, hundreds of people were still gathered below buildings in Abu Dhabi,

01:16Dubai, Sharjah, Al Ain and other parts of the country. Most were workers in high-rise

01:21office towers whose buildings had been evacuated following safety procedures. Residents in

01:26the UAE quickly took to social media to find out if the tremors they felt were indeed the

01:31result of an earthquake. On Twitter, readers described chairs and tables shaking. In Abu

01:37Dhabi, a resident said he felt the building shake for 30 seconds. A Dubai resident said

01:42the aftershock was felt on the first floor. Police and airport authorities said there

01:46was no disruption to any service. The tremors felt in the UAE were equivalent to 4.5 on

01:52the Richter scale, according to the observatory at the American University of Sharjah. Authorities

01:58have stressed that buildings in the UAE follow a strict code and are resistant to earthquakes.

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