A 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook southern Iran early Wednesday, injuring 19 people and damaging houses in four villages near the town of Lamerd, state media reported.

State television's website reported that the tremor just after midnight was followed by 11 aftershocks.

It said 30 percent of buildings in the four villages, on the border of the southern provinces of Fars and Hormuzdan, were damaged and cited a local Red Crescent official as saying 19 people were injured.

State news agency IRNA said the tremor was also felt on the Gulf island of Kish but gave no further details.

The US Geological Survey said the quake, which it downgraded to 5.1 magnitude from an initial 5.8, struck at 1938 GMT Tuesday (00:08 am Wednesday local time) some 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Jahrom and 975 kilometres (610 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Earthquakes are common in Iran. In 2003, some 30,000 people were killed in a quake that devastated the small southeastern city of Bam.

Agencies