5.8 magnitude earthquake hits southern Iran, four injured

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.

Within 21 minutes after the magnitude-5.8 quake, another two earthquakes measuring 5.2 and 4.1 respectively struck Fars province in succession, the Iranian Seismological Center said.

Iran, including its capital Tehran, sits astride several major fault-lines in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes.

The worst quake that happened in recent years was a magnitude-6.3 one, which struck the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people, about a quarter of this city's population.

Some Iranian officials suggest to move the capital from Tehran to some other places. The idea of shifting the capital away from Tehran is not something new, and related preliminary planning was done in the late 1980s and again in the early 1990s. Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com