Strong quake near Iran nuke plant kills 30

A powerful earthquake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station yesterday, killing 30 people and injuring 800 as it devastated small villages, state media reported.
The 6.3 magnitude quake totally destroyed one village, a Red Crescent official told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), but the nearby Bushehr nuclear plant was undamaged, according to a local politician and the Russian company that built it.
"Up until now the earthquake has left behind 30 dead and 800 injured," said Fereydoun Hassanvand, the governor of Bushehr province, according to ISNA.
Many houses in rural parts of the province are made of mud brick, which can easily crumble in a quake.
Across the Gulf, offices in Qatar and Bahrain were evacuated after the quake, whose epicentre was 89 km southeast of the port of Bushehr, according to the US Geological Survey. The early afternoon shock was also felt in financial hub Dubai.
The Russian company that built the nuclear power station, 18 km south of Bushehr, said the plant was unaffected.
Iran is the only country operating a nuclear power plant that does not belong to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, negotiated after the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl which contaminated wide areas and forced about 160,000 Ukrainians from their homes.
Western officials and the United Nations have urged Iran to join the safety forum.