A death toll in the hundreds is expected following a massive earthquake in southeast Iran near the border of Pakistan on Tuesday. Measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, the quake is the country's largest in decades, and its tremors reportedly caused buildings to sway as far away as New Delhi and Qatar.

So far the Iranian government has announced 40 dead, but a government official told Reuters that they "are expecting hundreds of dead." Power and communications are out in parts of the provinces of Baluchistan and Sistan.

Earlier this mohttp://bigstory.ap.org/article/major-…nth, dozens were killed and hundreds injured in another, less powerful earthquake.

UPDATE:
The Iranian state TV is backtracking its reports of 40 dead, and the BBC reports that there are no earthquake-related deaths confirmed so far.

UPDATE: The BBC reports that at least five people have died in Pakistan, near the border with Iran, according to local government and hospital officials.

UPDATE: The AP reports that there are 34 dead in Pakistan, with over 80 injured.

[image via AP, people evacuated from buildings in Karachi, Pakistan after the quake]