Earthquake measuring 5.2 on Richter scale jolts southern Iran

TEHRAN, Oct 6 (AFP) - An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the open-ended Richter scale on Wednesday hit the far southeastern Iranian town of Jiroft, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or serious material damage.
"We have no reports of damage or victims, but the quake was felt in Kerman," situated 240 kilometers (145 miles) to the north, Kerman province's natural disasters office director Mohsen Salehi told the state news agency IRNA.
Jiroft has a population of 208,000, and is situated not far south of the city of Bam -- devastated in a quake in December 2003 that killed 31,000 people.
Iran is criss-crossed by seismological faults, and tremors and quakes are an almost daily occurrence.