Kermanshah, Dec 25, IRNA -- Some 3,000 residential units in 57 different villages of the Dinevar section in this western province were destroyed during last night's quake which hit the province, it was announced here on Wednesday.

Hassan Momeni, governor of the city of Sahneh, told IRNA that the houses suffered damage by between 30 to 60 percent from the three relatively strong quake which hit the region on April 25, 2002.

The quake, followed by two minor aftershocks ranging between 3.9 and 4.9 on the open-ended Richter scale, hit Kermanshah province on April 25 and caused damage to 50 villages estimated at between 25 and 75 percent.

Two persons were killed and 56 were wounded by the quake. Ten villages were totally destroyed and some 20,000 families were devastated with water, electricity and telephone facilities in the villages affected destroyed along with a considerable number of the villagers' homes and cattle.

Last night's quake claimed no life but left 15 injured who were given out-patient treatment at local hospitals, Momeni further announced.

Relief teams are working seriously in the region helping people to find safe shelters, he added, say ing that some livestock units have also been damaged by the quake and quake-stricken villagers are now facing many problems.

An earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.3 degrees on the open-ended Richter scale, jolted Dinevar at 20:26 hours local time (1656 GMT) on Tuesday, with its epicenter in an area northeast of the province.

Two aftershocks, measuring 4.2 and 3.0 degrees on the Richter scale, shook the province early Wednesday.

Quakes shake western Iranian cities

The seismological base of the Geophysics Institute affiliated to Tehran University recorded the quake at 20:26 hours local time (1656 GMT) with its epicenter at northeast of the province.

Head of the provincial natural disasters department Soltanmorad Salimi said that the quake injured 15 people and damaged a number of residential units.

The injured were immediately taken to local hospitals.

Meanwhile, an aftershock measuring 4.2 degrees on the open-ended Richter scale shook the province early Wednesday.

It was felt at 1:48 hours local time (1018 GMT on Tuesday) with its epicenter at northeast of the province.

In related news, two earthquakes measuring 2.8 and 2.9 degrees on the open-ended Richter scale hit the province over the past two days.

An earthquake with an intensity of 5.2 degrees on the open-ended Richter scale hit the city of Khorramabad in the western Iranian province of Lorestan at 20:33 hours local time (1703 GMT) on Tuesday.

Another earthquake was also jolted the city of Sanandaj in the western Iranian province of Kurdestan at 20:30 hours local time (1700 GMT) on the same day.

There have been no immediate reports of possible casualty or damage to property caused by the quakes.

A relatively strong earthquake shook parts of western Iran in Kermanshah, Kurdestan and Hamedan provinces, causing panic among residents.

The first tremor, with the intensity of 4.8 on the Richter scale, rattled parts of Kermanshah and Kurdestan provinces at 00:20 hours (1950 GMT on Tuesday) in the former and 00:13 hours in the latter.

The temblors were followed by two aftershocks, measuring 4.9 and 3.9 degrees, causing widespread panic among local residents who rushed out from their houses. They reported a thunder-like jolt.

The tremors were felt in the towns of Hersin, Bistoun, Kangavar and Sahneh and Qorveh.

Iran sits on some of the world's seismic faultlines and is often shaken by earthquakes of various intensities.

Since 1991, over 950 earthquakes have hit the country, resulting in the death of 17,600 people and injuries to 53,300 others.