TEHRAN - Residents of the southern Iranian province of Kerman have been advised to sleep out under the stars after a string of hefty tremors raised fears of an imminent "big one", a local official said Monday.
"There is greater anxiety after Bam," Ali Komsari, a spokesman for the pronvincial governor, told AFP.
"We know that we live on a faultline, it is a fact of life, so officials here have advised people to take the necessary precautions like sleep in open places and avoid spending time under uncertain roofs," he explained.
In December 2003, the city of Bam in Kerman province was almost totally flattened by a quake, which killed more than 31,000 people and injured tens of thousands more.
The provincial town of Zarand was also hit by a 6.4 Richter scale quake in February, with 612 people killed and 1,400 injured.
But in the space of the last five days, Zarand has been hit by at least five tremors measuring between 2.7 and 5.4 on the Richter scale -- encouraging people not to tempt fate by sleeping indoors.
"It has become a part of everyday life. There is no chaos or crisis," Komsari said.
Sleeping outdoors is also a normal part of rural life in southern Iran during the summer months, when temperatures seldom drop below 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to violent earthquakes. During the 20th century, an estimated 170,000 Iranians lost their lives in earthquakes.
05/16/2005 11:17 GMT