DEVELOPING: 7.8 Earthquake Rocks Iran

Pakistanis evacuated from buildings in Karachi following a massive earthquake centered in neighboring Iran, April 16, 2013. / Getty Images

DEVELOPING: There are reports coming out today that Iran and Pakistan border was hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake Tuesday morning. Nearby countries felt this massive earthquake.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude was estimated at 7.8 and the depth at 51 miles.

The quake was centered near the border with Pakistan, in a sparsely populated region of southeast Iran.

Reports on Iran's Press TV said at least 40 people had been killed, but no official figures were given and the reports could not be immediately confirmed. Another Iranian news agency, the semi-official ISNA, quoted an official from the national emergency response agency as saying there had been no deaths in Iran due to the quake. It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the varying reports coming from Iranian media.

A senior Pakistani official did confirm to CBS News' Farhan Bokhari, however, that five people were killed in that country as a result of the quake.

"The number of casualties could rise as reports come in from different parts of the region," added the official. Reuters reported that five people -- three women and two children -- were killed when their house collapsed in the Baluchistan region, which spans the Iran-Pakistan border.

Iran's Red Crescent said it was facing a "complicated emergency situation" in the area with villages scattered over desolate hills and valleys. Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency and others described the quake as the strongest to hit the region in more than 50 years.

Iran is prone to quakes, and the nation's southern coast runs along the boundary of a tectonic plate. The southeastern corner of the country, near the epicenter of Tuesday's temblor, sits near the point where three separate plates meet.