TEHRAN (AFP) -- More than 1,000 homes in an isolated region of southern Iran were seriously damaged Tuesday when a powerful earthquake registering 5.6 on the Richter scale hit the area.

"There are yet no reports of death or injuries," the governor of Kahnuj, a town near the affected area, said on state radio.

"About 1,400 houses have been damaged between 70 to 100 percent."

The quake hit an area around the town of Arzuieh in Kerman Province, 750 kilometers (480 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.

In November, a quake measuring at least 5.9 on the Richter scale struck the island of Qeshm off Iran's southern Gulf coast, killing 10 people and injuring around 100.

In February 2005, a quake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale hit the southern town of Zarand, also in Kerman Province, killing 612 people and wounding around 1,400.

In December 2003, the southeastern city of Bam was razed by a 6.7 degree quake which left more than 31,000 people dead.