TEHRAN, July 21 (Xinhua) -- At least four people were injured during an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale that hit southern Iran's Fars Province near the Persian Gulf coast at 1938 GMT on Tuesday.
Disaster Chief of Staff and Head of Hormozgan Crisis Center Ahmad Gheibi told Xinhua at least four were injured in Kemeshk, a town near the border between Hormozgan province and Fars province, and more casualties are expected in the regions around the epicenter in the city of Ahl.
Officials say emergency aid teams are ready, and will be dispatched to the quake-hit area if necessary, the local satellite channel Press TV said on Wednesday.
The earthquake, at a depth of 9 kilometers, is 27 degrees North Latitude and 53.9 degrees East Longitude, according to the Iranian Seismological Center's website.
Earlier in the day the U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake is at a depth of about 34 kilometers, and was centered about 234 kilometers west of Bandar-e Abbas.
Within 21 minutes after the magnitude-5.8 quake, another two earthquakes measuring 5.2 and 4.1 struck Fars province in succession, the Iranian Seismological Center said on its website.
Iran, including its capital Tehran, sits astride several major fault-lines in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes.
