PowerPoint presentation courtesy of Dr. Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction

1. LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST
NOTABLE DISASTERS
IRAN
PART 3: EARTHQUAKES

2. IRAN

3. NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED
DISASTERS IN IRAN
FLOODS
GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE
AND COMMUNITIES WINDSTORMS
HIGH BENEFIT/COST EARTHQUAKES
PROGRAMS FOR
BECOMING DISASTER LANDSLIDES
RESILIENT
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

4. Natural Phenomena that Cause
Disasters
Planet Earth’s
heat flow and
lithospheric
interactions
cause
EARTHQUAKES

5. TECTONIC PLATES

6. IRAN: INTERACTION OF ARABIAN
—ANATOLIAN---EURASIAN PLATES

7. Iran has a long history of
destructive earthquakes,
which have left at least
126,000 dead during the 20 th
and 21st centuries.

8. A DISASTER is ---
--- the set of failures that overwhelm the
capability of a community to respond
without external help when three
continuums: 1) people, 2) community
(i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and
social constructs), and 3) complex
events (e.g., earthquakes, cyclones,..)
intersect at a point in space and time.

9. Disasters are caused by
single- or multiple-event
natural hazards that, (for
various reasons), cause
extreme levels of mortality,
morbidity, homelessness,
joblessness, economic losses,
or environmental impacts.

10. THE REASONS ARE . . .
• The community is UN-
PREPARED for what will likely
happen

11. THE REASONS ARE . . .
• When it does happen, the
functions of the community’s
buildings and infrastructure that
are UNPROTECTED with the
appropriate codes and standards
will be LOST.

12. THE REASONS ARE . . .
• The community has NO DISASTER
PLANNING SCENARIO or
WARNING SYSTEM in place as a
strategic framework for concerted
local, national, regional, and
international actions.

13. THE REASONS ARE . . .
• The community LACKS THE
CAPACITY TO RESPOND to
the full spectrum of emergency
situations that can occur.

14. THE REASONS ARE . . .
• The community is INEFFICIENT
during recovery and
reconstruction because it HAS
NOT LEARNED from either the
current experience or the
cumulative prior experiences.

15. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
ALL EARTH-
QUAKES
BUILDING CODES
AND LIFELINE
STANDARDS ARE
ESSENTIAL FOR
DISASTER
RESILIENCE

16. TOWARDS EARTHQUAKE
DISASTER RESILIENCE

17. ELEMENTS OF EARTHQUAKE
RISK
HAZARDS EXPOSURE
RISK
VULNERABILITY LOCATION

18. EARTHQUAKE RISK
ACCEPTABLE RISK
•HAZARDS
•INVENTORY RISK
•VULNERABILITY UNACCEPTABLE RISK
•LOCATION
QUAKE DISASTER
RESILIENCE
DATA BASES IRAN’S
AND INFORMATION COMMINITIES
POLICY OPTIONS
•PREPAREDNESS
HAZARDS: •PROTECTION
GROUND SHAKING
GROUND FAILURE •FORECASTS/SCENARIOS
SURFACE FAULTING
TECTONIC DEFORMATION
•EMERGENCY RESPONSE
TSUNAMI RUN UP •RECOVERY and
AFTERSHOCKS
RECONSTRUCTION

19. CAUSES
OF
DAMAGE
INADEQUATE RESISTANCE TO
HORIZONTAL GROUND SHAKING
SOIL AMPLIFICATION
PERMANENT DISPLACEMENT
(SURFACE FAULTING & GROUND
FAILURE)
IRREGULARITIES IN ELEVATION
EARTHQUAKES AND PLAN
“DISASTER FIRE FOLLOWING RUPTURE OF
LABORATORIES” UTILITIES
LACK OF DETAILING AND
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
INATTENTION TO NON-
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

20. IRAN: HIGH TO VERY HIGH RISK

21. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
ALL EARTH-
QUAKES
PREPAREDNESS
FOR THE LIKELY
GROUND
SHAKING IS
ESSENTIAL FOR
DISASTER
RESILIENCE

22. WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS
(AKA THE POTENTIAL
DISASTER AGENTS)

23. SEISMICITY TECTONIC
SETTING &
FAULTS
EARTHQUAKE
HAZARDS MODEL

24. Iran has many well-known seismically
active faults, which have generated
devastating earthquakes in recent
years, including a M6.6 earthquake in
2003 that destroyed the city of Bam
and killed more than 26,000 people

25. REGIONAL SEISMICITY

26. LOCAL SEISMICITY

27. IMPORTANCE AND
LOCATION OF VALUE OF
STRUCTURE STRUCTURE AND
CONTENTS
EXPOSURE
MODEL

28. HIGH POTENTIAL LOSS EXPOSURES
IN AN EARTHQUAKE
A communities people,
property, essential and critical
infrastructure, business
enterprise, and government
centers.

29. CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS HAVE
DIFFERENT VULNERABILITIES TO
GROUND SHAKING
35
% OF REPLACEMENT VALUE
30
MEAN DAMAGE RATIO,
25
20
15
10
5
0
V VI VII VIII IX
INTENSITY

30. QUALITY OF ADEQUACY OF
DESIGN AND LATERAL-FORCE
CONSTRUCTION RESISTING SYSTEM
VULNERABILITY
MODEL

31. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
ALL EARTH-
QUAKES
BUILDING CODES
AND LIFELINE
STANDARDS ARE
ESSENTIAL FOR
DISASTER
RESILIENCE

32. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
ALL EARTH-
QUAKES
TIMELY
EMERGENCY
RESPONSE IS
ESSENTIAL FOR
DISASTER
RESILIENCE

33. SOME OF IRAN’S MANY
NOTABLE EARTHQUAKES
M6.6 BAM: DECEMBER 26, 2003
M6.4 TABRIZ: AUG. 11, 2012
M6.3 TABRIZ: AUG. 11. 2012

34. BAM EARTHQUAKE:
DECEMBER 26, 2003

35. CITADEL OF BAM, IRAN: BEFORE
EARTHQUAKE:

36. CITADEL OF BAM, IRAN: BEFORE M6.6
EARTHQUAKE

37. CITADEL OF BAM, IRAN: AFTER
EARTHQUAKE

38. CITADEL OF BAM, IRAN: AFTER
EARTHQUAKE

39. IMPACTS
• The Bam earthquake was
particularly destructive, with
26,271 dead and 30,000
injured.
.

40. EXACERBATING FACTORS
• Iran’s earthquake specialists knew
that the mud bricks of the citadel, a
historical cultural heritage, did
NOT comply with earthquake
regulations set in 1989, but the
mud bricks, a fact of life, could not
be adequately strengthened.
.

41. EXACERBATING FACTORS
• The high morbidity and
mortality tolls were
exacerbated by the fragility of
the mud brick construction
materials.
.

42. INTERNATIONAL
ASSISTANCE:
Many nations, including the
USA, offered assistance and
resources.

43. TWIN MODERATE-MAGNITUDE
EARTHQUAKES STRIKE IRAN
SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 2012

44. LOCATION MAP

45. THE EARTHQUAKES (Source:
US Geological Survey)
• Saturday's first quake of M6.4 struck
just before 5 pm 60 km (37 miles)
northeast of the city of Tabriz at a
depth of 9.9 km (6.2 miles).
• Saturday’s second quake of M6.3
struck 49 km (30 miles) northeast of
Tabriz 11 minutes later at a similar
depth.

46. The earthquakes struck in East
Azerbaijan province, a
mountainous region that
neighbors Azerbaijan and Armenia
to the north and is predominantly
populated by ethnic Azeris, a
minority group.

47. INITIAL IMPACTS
• Over 1,000 villages were affected, with
over 5,000 buildings in 100 villages
partially or totally destroyed as
concrete-block and mud-brick
buildings collapsed.
• At least 20 villages could not be
reached because of impassable roads.
• People in some villages were in dire
need of food and drinking water.

48. VARZAGHAN: DAMAGE

49. VARZAGHAN: DAMAGE

50. INITIAL IMPACTS
• Over 300 dead (more likely), with over
60 percent being women and children,
partly due to the time of day (5 PM) that
the quake struck.
• Over 1,800 injured.

51. INITIAL IMPACTS (continued)
• 36,000 people in the quake-hit area
were provided with emergency shelter.
• Many slept on the street and in parks.
• A field hospital set up in Varzaghan on
Sunday to treat the injured was staffed
by just two doctors, who, because of
shortages of medical supplies and
food, were hard pressed to meet the
emergency medical needs.

52. INITIAL IMPACTS (continued)
• Hospitals in Tabriz (49 km distance)
took in many of the injured from the
surrounding villages.
• Water, electricity, and phone lines in
the Varzaghan area were all down,
further hindering rescue efforts
• Preliminary loss estimate: $650
million USD

53. VARZAGHAN: INITIAL S & R MOSTLY
BY RESIDENTS; AUG 11th

54. A CONTROVERSIAL
DECISION
Search and rescue was stopped
after 24 hours and a 2-day
period of mourning started

55. THIS DISASTER EXPOSED
POLICY FLAWS
• UN—PROTECTED
• UN—PREPARED
• UN--ABLE TO RESPOND EFFECTIVELY

56. FACT: VILLAGE HOUSES WITH
LITTLE OF NO EARTHQUAKE
RESISTANCE COLLAPSED,
INCREASINGING DEATHS AND
INJURIES
The 5 pm occurrence) instead of a 10
pm occurrence) likely reduced the
number of deaths.

57. FACT: KNOWING WHERE THE
SEISMICALLY ACTIVE FAULTS
ARE AND BEING UNPREPARED
FOR THE INEVITABLE
EARTHQUAKES LEADS TO
UNNECESSAY DISASTERS

58. FACT: EVEN THE WORLD’S BEST
FIRST RESPONDERS, FIND THAT
COLLAPSED BUILDINGS,
IMPASSABLE ROADS,
AFTERSHOCKS, and NIGHTFALL WILL
SLOW SEARCH AND RESCUE
OPERATIONS AND HINDER
EMERGENCY RESPONSE

59. IRANIAN RED CRESCENT
WILLING TO ACCEPT
INTERNATIONAL AID
"We would welcome help by any country,"
said Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani,
during his visit to the earthquake-stricken
area on Tuesday, August 14th.

60. RED CRESCENT ASSETS
DEPLOYED
• 1,100 Red Crescent workers were
deployed with 44,000 food packages
and 5,600 tents for survivors needing
temporary shelter.

61. IRAN’S NEXT EARTHQUAKE
IS INEVITABLE
• BUT,
EARTHQUAKE
DISASTER
RESILIENCE IS
NOT AN
IMPOSSIBLE
DREAM!