Tehran: Ten people were injured when an earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale hit western Iran, state television reported today.

The quake hit Nasirabad village in Chahar Mahal-Bakhtiari province at 00:25 am local time today, damaging 70 houses, the report said.

Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of them devastating.

The worst quake in recent times hit Bam in the southeastern Kerman province in December 2003, killing 31,000 people, about a quarter of the city's population, and destroying the city's ancient mud-built citadel.

Tehran alone sits on two major faultlines and the 7.5 million residents of the city live in anxiety of a major quake damaging buildings that are not earthquake-proof in densely-populated areas.
Source : PTI