Saturday, May 11, 2013
Muscat: No tremors were felt in Oman’s port town of Khasab, about 250 nautical miles northwest of Muscat, from the magnitude 6 earthquake that hit Iran at around 4am on Saturday.
“After reports from all stations the initial magnitude of 6.2 has been scaled down to 6,” Dr Eisa Al Hussain, Director at Sultan Qaboos University’s (SQU), Earthquake Monitoring Centre, told Gulf News. He added that there was no impact felt in Khasab as reported by news agencies.
“No tremors were felt in Oman’s Khasab town and it is unlikely to suffer from aftershocks,” he reiterated. However, he warned that a few more aftershocks of lower intensity of around 5 and 5.5 magnitude could hit the area around Minab.
According to agencies, reports said that the earthquake was at a depth of 36.44km. A resident of Khorshem, a fjord 10km from Khasab town, also denied any tremors. “I did not feel any tremors although we are inside sea and closer to Minab than residents of Khasab,” Ahmad Bin Gahrib Al Dhahuri, Director at Khorsem Tourism, told Gulf News over the telephone. Mujeeb Rahman, an honorary counsellor for the Indian embassy in Khasab, also denied any tremors in Khasab. “Neither did I feel nor has anyone in town spoken about it,” he said, adding that he only read it online and was wondering where in the small port town of Khasab people may have felt it.
Parts of Oman, including Muscat, had felt tremors when a magnitude 7.3 earthquake shook Iran on April 16. Seismologists do not rule out the potential of the earthquake striking Oman’s eastern coast from the Makran subduction zone. Scientific evidence has been found about a tsunami striking in Sur lagoon in eastern Oman in 1945.
By Sunil K. Vaidya ?Bureau Chief
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
