Preliminary report of the damage due to the Qayen earthquake of 1997, northeast Iran

On 10 May 1997, a large earthquake (Ms = 7.1) rocked the northeastern part of Iran damaging about 150 villages and killing 1,448 people. The Japanese Group for the Study of Natural Disaster Science with financial support from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Monbusho) sent a reconnaissance team to the site. The team investigated the 110-km long surface fault, 57 damaged villages, the damage done to lifeliness, and public risk management in cooperation with its Iranian counterparts, in particular the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES).