TEHERAN - An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale hit southeast Iran on Tuesday morning destroying some villages and killing at least five people, state television reported. The earthquake, centred on the town of Zarand in Kerman province about 440 miles (700 km) southeast of Teheran, struck at 5:55 a.m. (0225 GMT), television said."Up to now only five people have died, but we can't say that's a final figure because some villages have been destroyed and we don't have access to them," Ali Sharifi, head of Kerman's university of medicine told television.
Major settlements appeared to have escaped heavy damage suggesting the overall death toll would not be as high as in some similar strength tremors in the earthquake prone country. "In Zarand and Kerman only some walls have collapsed and there were no casualties but we still don't have any figures on casualties in the villages in Kerman province," Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani said.
Television said 25 to 30 percent of property had been damaged in five villages close to Zarand. Kerman Governor Mohammad Ali Karimi told television that aid groups had been sent to the villages but he had not yet asked for any help from other provinces.