Iran Earthquake: Survivor Search Called Off

Rescuers in Iran have finished searching for survivors after an earthquake in the port city of Bushehr that killed 37 people.

"With the rescue operation being wrapped up no one is left under the rubble," the Fars news agency quoted the head of Iran's Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, as saying.

At least 20 people have been rescued, Fars added.

Local media reports say 37 people were killed and 850 others injured in the 6.1 magnitude quake that struck on Tuesday , destroying 700 homes.

Mozafar said efforts were now focused on relief operations and around 1,000 tents had been set up in quake-hit areas. He added blankets and food had also been sent to stricken areas.

Iran said it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that there has been no damage to the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, nearly 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of quake's epicenter, and no radioactive release.

Iran's atomic chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said that the power plant was not operational when the quake struck as it was " under maintenance", Iranian media reported.

The earthquake hit at 4:22pm local time at a depth of 12km (7.5 miles), in the area of Kaki, according to the Iranian Seismological Centre which has registered more than a dozen aftershocks, the strongest at 5.3 magnitude.

The US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, ranked it at a more powerful 6.3 magnitude.

In Dubai, hundreds of kilometres down the Gulf from Bushehr and home to the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, local media reported that several high-rise buildings were briefly evacuated.

Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.

In December 2010, a big quake struck the southern city of Bam. It killed 31,000 people - about a quarter of the population - and destroyed the city's ancient mud-built citadel.