A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Iran killing 35 in a border region in Pakistan which bore the brunt and unleashed tremors in northwest India and Gulf Arab states.

In Pakistan, the 35 deaths were recorded in the remote Panjgur and Kharan districts of Balochistan.

The Mashkel area was hit hardest by the quake and hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged in the affected regions. In Karachi, several persons were injured when a building collapsed. Geo News reported that urban centres of Hyderabad, Quetta, Abbottabad, Islamabad and Lahore were also jolted.

There was no official word on any casualties in Iran in the second powerful quake in a week. This was the strongest earthquake to hit Iran in 40 years. Iranian state TV initially said at least 40 people were killed in Iran but it had no official confirmation as conflicting reports on casualties emerged from that country.

Later, Iranian news agency reported that the quake with its epicenter very deep inside the ground in a desert area around 82 kilometer north of Sarvan did not cause much casualties as the scattered population around it lives in tents.

Iran's nuclear chief Fereidoun Abbasi said there was no damage to the Bushehr reactor and invited UN inspectors to visit the site.

In India, the tremors shook north India and Gujarat at 4.14 pm pulling panic-stricken people out of their homes and offices, hours after two smaller tremors jolted Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha, leaving a child dead in a mudsling in Assam. There were no reports of any damage or casualty in the tremors in India caused by the powerful quake.

The U.S. Geological Survey, in a revised bulletin, said the quake hit at a depth of 82 kilometers. The epicentre was 198 kilometers southeast of the city of Zahedan and 250 kilometers northwest of Turbat in Pakistan.

The quake was also felt in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It shook buildings and there were reports that high-rise offices were evacuated in Abu Dhabi.