The geological region where the earthquake occurred, the Zagros Mountains, is seismically active due to ongoing tectonic convergence.

[4] The Main Recent Fault delineates the northeastern boundary of the seismically active Zagros Mountains, having formed about five million years ago.

Southwest of the Main Recent Fault lies the continental margin of Arabia, while the rocks to the northeast are of metamorphic and volcanic origin.

On 14 August, at 14:00 local time, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake was felt strongly in Asadabad, Nahavand and Tuyserkan, scaring residents.

Three sets of surface rupture occurred; all trending northwest–southeast on segments of the Main Recent Fault exhibited vertical offsets.

The Nahavand segment was associated with another 20 km (12 mi) surface rupture that extended form Barreh Farakh to Leylan.

Modified Mercalli intensity VII (Very strong) was assigned in the meizoseismal area although there were plausibly isolated instances of IX (Violent) effects.

The low death toll was partly the result of a foreshock that kept residents alert and a period of hot weather that compelled them to sleep on their roofs.

Four settlements, Leylas-Leylan, Jafarabad and Litagar, situated in the northwest meizoseismal zone, experienced the greatest devastation.

Several people died in Asadabad and Akbarabad when homes crumbled during an aftershock in the early morning of 19 August.

The most destructive aftershock occurred in Dinavar District on 21 September, devastating a 100 km2 (39 sq mi) region northwest of the 1957 meizoseismal area.

Preceded by a damaging sequence of earthquakes several hours earlier, this magnitude 5.2 shock killed 16 people and devastated Karkasar, Karaj, Balajub, Gamshah, and Kolehjub.