The Bam Earthquake of 26th December 2003 - Living Steel

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The Bam Earthquake of 26th December 2003

Field Investigation Report prepared by Dr. Ali Reza Manafpour, Halcrow Group Ltd., and provided by Living Steel member, Imidro

A large earthquake with a magnitude of Mw=6.6 (USGS[3]) struck the city of Bam, located approximately 1000km southeast of Tehran, at 05:26:56 local time (01:56:56 GMT) on Friday 26th December 2003. The earthquake destroyed most of Bam city and the nearby villages and according to the latest estimates the official death toll exceeded 26,000 with more than 30,000 injuries and 75,000 left homeless. After the earthquake a field investigation was organised by Halcrow Group Limited. as part of its commitment to improving our understanding of the hazards presented by natural disasters.

Iran Earthquake Report on Building Damage

This earthquake highlighted the particular vulnerability of other cities in this earthquake region and in general the built environment in Iran. The dramatic scale of the casualties associated with a relatively small affected region underlines the fact that urgent measures need to be taken to safeguard the increasingly urbanised population from the real risk posed by future earthquakes.

The main purpose of this investigation was to visit the earthquake stricken region of Bam to record and comment upon the causes of the various types of damage observed in the buildings and other structures and to determine what lessons can be learned from this earthquake. This report also provides supplementary data on the seismological and geological background of the region and briefly touches on socio-economical effects of earthquakes.

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