Ardekul Ghaen Earthquake of 10 May 1997, Mw=7.1
The main shock killed at least 1568, injured 2600, completely destroyed 12,000 houses, and damaged 7000 more in 147 villages. The highest casualty count was in the Abiz village, where 264 people were killed. The death toll and damage from the earthquake were relatively mild for a few reasons: this remote desert area close to the Iran–Afghanistan border has a low population density, most people were working in the field, and the main shock was preceded by a warning foreshock. Financial losses were estimated to be at least US$100 million. The earthquake produced 125 km of NNW–SSE right-lateral strike-slip surface faulting on the Abiz right-lateral strike-slip fault northeast of the Sistan suture zone of eastern Iran. This is the longest recorded surface rupture associated with an Iranian earthquake (Berberian, 2014).
