Strong quake jolts southern Iran

[tocqueville]

14 minutes ago

TEHRAN (AFP) - A powerful earthquake registering 5.6 on the Richter scale hit southern Iran, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

"It is an area of scarcely populated villages. We are still waiting for reports on possible casualties," Gholamreza Safarzadeh, an official in the office of Kerman province's governor, told AFP by telephone on Tuesday.

The quake hit an area around the town of Arzuieh in Kerman province, around 750 kilometres (480 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.

Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060228/sc_afp/iranquake_060228100155