Quake in Fars

An earthquake measuring 4.4 degrees on the Richter scale jolted Khonj County, Fars Province, on Monday. According to the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University, the tremor occurred 18 km from Khonj County with a population of 20,000, at 11:32 am local time. So far no reports of casualties have been received, IRNA reported. Iran sits astride several major seismic faults, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating. The famous Qatar-Kazerun fault, with an estimated 450-km length starts from the peninsular Arab country of Qatar in the southern part of the Persian Gulf and passes through the Iranian provinces of Bushehr, Fars, Kohgiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari.