Moderate earthquake hits southern Iran

Iranian state TV said a magnitude 5.5 earthquake has jolted a sparsely populated area in the country’s south.

The report said the quake hit on Sunday evening in the district of Goharan.

It says many buildings were damaged and that rescue workers were on the scene.

The quake affected cellular phone coverage in the region with a population of 15,000 in nearly 80 villages. No casualties are reported so far.

Iran sits on a series of seismic fault lines and experiences one slight quake a day on average.