A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck Iran's southeastern Kerman province on Friday, causing some injuries and destroying several houses, Iranian state television said, adding no deaths had been reported.

The US Geological Survey said the quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.3, was centered 36 miles (58 km) northeast of Kerman city, with a population of more than 821,000.

‘The quake destroyed some houses in eight villages but so far there has been no fatalities,’ a local official told state TV.

Head of Relief and Rescue Organization of Iran's Red Crescent Morteza Salimi told state television that at least 42 people were wounded.

The quake struck a poor, sparsely populated area, where most of the residents live in villages of mud-walled homes, at 6:32 a.m. (0232 GMT) and was very shallow, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), which would have amplified the shaking.

‘Assessment teams are surveying the earthquake-stricken areas and villages in Kerman province,’ state news agency IRNA quoted local official Mohammadreza Mirsadeqi as saying.

Criss-crossed by several major fault lines, Iran is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 quake in the Kerman province killed 31,000 people and flattened the ancient city of Bam.

Last month, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck villages and towns in Iran's western Kermansheh province along the mountainous border with Iraq, killing 530 and injuring thousands of others. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 quake in Kerman province killed 31,000 people.