Moderate earthquake jolts southern Iran

TEHRAN: Iran’s state TV says a magnitude 5.3 earthquake has jolted a sparsely populated district in the south of the country. The quake was moderate and no injuries were reported.

The TV says the quake struck in Shonbeh on Thursday morning, at 04:01 a.m. local time (Wednesday 23:31 GMT).Last April, a magnitude 6.1 quake killed dozens and injured hundreds in the same district but authorities said it did not damage the nearby nuclear reactor in Bushehr, about 96 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Shonbeh.

Iran sits on a series of seismic fault lines and experiences one slight earthquake a day on average.

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.

 

Kurram Tangi Dam to be gift from PM to Southern districts

PESHAWAR: Senior central leader of Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Salim Saifullah Friday expressed gratitude to Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) members for giving node to Kurram Tangi Dam project.

In a statement issued here, he said it would be a gift from PML-N

leadership including Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif for the people of Southern district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said completion of the project would help irrigate 0.3 million acre barren land of Southern districts besides producing 85 mega watt of electricity.

It is pertinent to mention here that in a meeting of ECNEC headed by Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the Stage one of the Dam was approved at a reduced cost of Rs. 12.662 billion including USAID grant in aid of Rs. 9.975 billion.

The main objective of the project is to provide 76.15 cubic-ft/sec assured irrigation water supply to bring 16,380 acres of land under cultivation in FATA and generate 18.9 MW electricity.

Saleem Saifullah said the location of the project is in FATA area and it would contribute to socio-economic uplift of North Waziristan. He said the project will also provide water for domestic use of 48,500 population.