TEHRAN (Reuters)- Five people were killed and 20 injured when a powerful earthquake rocked a carpet-weaving region in southeast Iran, international relief agencies and Iranian government reports said on Sunday. Iranian state radio quoted the Interior Ministry's emergency headquarters as saying 15 villages sustained damage in the quake on Saturday night. The quake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, rocked the Golbaf region bordering Iran's central desert at about 11.10 p.m. (1940 GMT), the radio said. Two other regions, in central and southwest Iran, experienced mild quakes on Saturday night and Sunday morning measuring 3.6 degrees on the Richter scale, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported. There was no word of damage. Rescue operations had been launched in all three regions affected by the quakes. Early fears that casualty figures could rise as rescue teams searched the area appear to have been unfounded, relief agency officials said. "Damage has been limited and we don't think there will be significantly higher casualty figures," said Hamid Ghaffarzadeh, the United Nations Assistant Resident Coordinator for Iran. The Red Crescent society in Kerman had not requested assistance from its larger affiliated office in Tehran. An earthquake above the level of four or five on the international Richter scale is powerful enough to cause major damage in populated areas. "Since the epicentre of this earthquake was in a sparsely populated area, this may have limited the casualty figures," Ghaffarzadeh said. A resident in Kerman said Saturday's quake caused panic among people in the city but there did not appear to be any major damage. Iran is often hit by earthquakes.