Eight villages in the vicinity of Firouzabad, in Iran's southern province of Fars, have been damaged by an earthquake measuring five degrees on the Richter scale which hit the city and its nearby areas at 2028 hours local time (1658 GMT) Wednesday, IRNA reported.

Alireza Naderi, a provincial Red Crescent official told IRNA Thursday that 750 families are living in those eight villages. He announced that no loss of life has been reported in those villages so far.

Two relief teams, including 60 relief workers, along with five ambulances and the needed equipment and relief supplies have been dispatched to the quake-hit area, Naderi further announced.

According to the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University, the epicenter of the tremor was at 50 kms south of Firouzabad.

A devastating earthquake with the magnitude of 6.3 degrees on the Richter scale hit the city of Bam and its nearby villages in the southeastern province of Kerman on December 26, killing over 30,000 people and injuring tens of thousands of others.