Moderate quake jolts southern Iran, but causes no casualties

A moderate earthquake jolted southern Iran on Wednesday but there were no reports of casualties, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The magnitude-5 quake shook Farqan, a district about 1,300 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, at 7:49 a.m. local time (0419 GMT), the agency said.

A resident, Nasser Motazed, said "the brief quake only frightened the people."

It did not affect telephone lines, electricity and water supplies, he told The Associated Press in a phone call from the district.

Magnitude-5 quakes have been known to topple buildings in densely populated areas.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences at least one slight earthquake everyday on average.

In March 2006, three earthquakes and nine aftershocks hit western Iran, in quick succession, killing at least 70 people and injuring about 1,200.