A powerful earthquake struck southeast Iran early on Tuesday, killing almost 400 people, injuring hundreds and destroying some villages, a local official said.

The quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, was centerd on the town of Zarand, about 440 miles southeast of Tehran and just 160 miles from Bam, flattened by an earthquake that killed 31,000 people just over a year ago.

While villages were razed in Tuesday's quake, major towns and cities in the area appeared to have escaped heavy damage, officials said. This meant that the toll would not be as high as the many thousands killed in some quakes in Iran in the past.

"The toll now stands at 377 dead and more than 1,000 injured," Ali Komsari, a spokesman for the Kerman provincial governor's office, told Reuters.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the tremor's depth was estimated at 26 miles -- much greater than the December 2003 Bam quake, which was six miles deep and was also slightly more powerful at 6.7 magnitude. Experts said the greater depth would reduce the impact on the surface.

Residents in the provincial capital Kerman were out in the streets. "Everyone is afraid of aftershocks," said taxi driver Nasser Dadbin, 50.

State television images showed one village lying in rubble, only the occasional mud-brick wall left standing.

Residents carried dead bodies in bloodied blankets and bed sheets and clawed through the rubble with their bare hands, looking for survivors.

"My whole family is dead," one man cried.

Mohammad Ali Karimi, governor of Kerman province, said the area affected by the earthquake had about 30,000 residents in some 40 villages.

RAIN HAMPERS AID EFFORT

Buildings in one village, with a population of 1,700, had been damaged by more than 90 percent in the quake, which struck at 5:55 a.m. (9:25 p.m. EST Monday), he told state television.

"These villages are mostly in mountainous areas and because of rain the dispatch of aid faced problems in the early stages," he said.

Television showed groups of villagers huddled together in the rain, striking their heads and chests in grief.

The Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said relief teams from the Iranian Red Crescent were distributing food, tents and blankets to survivors.

Three Iranian government planes were carrying relief goods to the stricken area, said Federation spokeswoman Marie-Francoise Borel. "It is very cold and access to the mountainous region is difficult," she told Reuters.

"For the moment there is no need for international help," Borel added.

Criss-crossed by several major fault lines, Iran is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

The pre-dawn Bam quake devastated the desert citadel city, but damage from the latest quake was light in major urban centers, officials said.

PHOTO CAPTION

A television grab shows Iranians removing an earthquake victim from a damaged home in a village near the town of Zarand in the Kerman province, about 700 km southeast of Tehran February 22, 2005. (REUTERS)