Mohammad-abad Rigan Earthquake of 20 December 2010, Mw 6.3

Mohammad-abad Rigan Earthquake of 20 December 2010, Mw 6.3

At 22:11:58 local time (18:41:58 UTC) of Monday, December 20, 2010, an earthquake of magnitude Mw=6.3 and ML=6.2 occurred in Kerman province in south-eastern Iran. It was located about 20 km from Hosseinabd  and 52 km from Mohammad-abad Rigan, Kerman Province. The earthquake is also known as the Fahraj or Hosseinabad earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake was located at 28.35N and 59.23E with focal depth of about 15 km and strike-slip focal mechanism. The focal was situated in the south of Lut tectonic block where the “Neh” and “Bam” faults converge. 24 stations of the Iran strong motion network (ISMN) have recorded the event in which the maximum PGA of 123 cm/s² belongs to the Rigan station with 41 km epicentral distance.

The earthquake killed 6 people and injured about 21. Damages were mostly concentrated in about 20 villages in the area of Fahraj so that the event made 30-70% damages to the 1150 rural residential units in Fahraj region in Kerman Province. The earthquake could be almost felt in the provinces of Kerman, Sistan-Baluchestan, Yazd and South Khorasan.

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