38 dead, 313 hurt in Iran earthquake

At least 28 people died and 313 were injured when an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale hit the province of Lorestan in western Iran on early Friday, official television quoted a local official as saying.

Some 40 villages suffered 10 to 100 per cent damage in the quake which struck between the towns of Dorud and Borujerd, the unnamed official said.

The ancient buildings in Borujerd were damaged, he added.

State media quoted the local official as saying that blankets and tents, and medical supplies are urgently needed for the survivors.

The media said that the weather is sunny now.

But the people in Dorud and Borujerd who were terrified from the successive tremors spent the night in the parks in cool temperatures.

Television added that rescue workers have been sent to the area most hit which is between Dorud and Borujerd, and that the number of casualties is expected to increase.

The tremor registering 6.0 on the Richter scale struck at 4.47 am following two others measuring 4.7 and 5.1.

The Strasbourg observatory in eastern France announced an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale in western Iran on Friday.

The observatory situated the epicentre at 32.86 degrees north and 48.30 degrees east.

Iranian television said the quake caused an electricity blackout in Dorud where the inhabitants rushed out into the streets.

The tremor was felt as far away as Hamedan in the province of the same name to the north.

Iran is an earthquake-prone area. The worst quake in recent times hit Bam in the south of the country in December 2003 killing 31,000 people.

The most recent measuring 6 on the Richter scale shook a sparsely-populated region of south Iran on March 25, killing one person in a landslide and damaging houses in the mountainous Kouhshab region.