LONDON (Reuters) -- Following is a list of some of the most severe earthquakes in the current decade:

• February 4, 1998 - AFGHANISTAN - At least 4,000 were killed in an earthquake in the Rustaq district of Takhar province. The quakemeasured 6.1 on the Richter scale.

• May 10, 1997 - IRAN - 1,560 people were killed and 2,810 injured when an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale rocked rural areas of eastern Iran. The quake leveled 11 villages and inflicted heavy damage on the towns of Qaen and Birjand near its epicenter about 150 km (90 miles) from the border with Afghanistan.

• February 28, 1997 - IRAN - An earthquake killed about 1,000 people and injured 2,000 in northwestern Iran. The quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, hit the city of Ardabil and the town of Meshkinshahr.

• May 28, 1995 - RUSSIA - Russia's worst ever earthquake killed 1,989 people in the Far East oil-producing town of Neftegorsk, on the north of remote Sakhalin Island. The quake measured 7.5 on the Richter scale.

• January 17, 1995 - JAPAN - A strong earthquake ripped through central Japan, killing 6,430 people. Measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, the earthquake, centered around the port of Kobe, was the biggest to hit the country in half a century.

• June 6, 1994 - COLOMBIA - Some 1,000 people were killed in an earthquake and mudslide disaster in the Paez River valley in southwestern Colombia.

• September 30, 1993 - INDIA - Up to 22,000 people were killed in 36 villages destroyed in a series of powerful earthquakes in western and southern India. The first of the five tremors measured 6.4 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was in the region where the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka meet.

• December 12, 1992 - INDONESIA - A string of islands in the province of East Nusa Tenggara was hit by an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale. At least 2,200 people were killed.

• October 20, 1991 - INDIA - 1,600 people were killed and at least 2,000 injured by a quake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, close to Uttarkashi, 300 km (190 miles) northeast of New Delhi.

• February 1, 1991 - PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN - About 1,000 people were killed in Afghanistan and 200 in Pakistan, and many hundreds injured by a quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale which shook large areas of both countries.

• July 16, 1990 - PHILIPPINES - At least 2,000 killed, 3,500 injured. Richter 7.7, epicenter the city of Cabanatuan. About half the deaths were around the tourist centre of Baguio. An estimated 148,000 were displaced or made homeless.

• June 21, 1990 - IRAN - 50,000 dead, 100,000 injured, The worst recorded disaster in Iran. Registering 7.7 on Richter scale, devastated Caspian regions of Gilan and Zanjan. Some 500,000 were made homeless.

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