Iran is the one of the most earthquake vulnerable countries in Asia. The following is the high death tolls earthquakes in the country:
2003 Bam Earthquake (M6.8) Death Toll approx.43,000
1990 Majil Earthquake (M7.4) Death Toll approx.50,000
1978 Tabas Earthquake (M7.4) Death Toll approx.18000
Death toll numbers are totally different from the sources.The above death toll data from NIED DIL (National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Disaster Information Laboratory) Website**.These gaps tell us a lot of things. This will be explained later.
Especially, the Bam was an ancient city which has many historical buildings and 90% of them were destroyed.
One of the main causes of the casualties is the house building structures, adobe (mud brick). The Adobe is good for thermal mass, however bad for earthquakes. This is very embedded in their culture.
EM-DAT* indicates the Iran’s historical disasters since 1900. We can confirm the Iran is the earthquake prone country as shown in the below table.
*D. Guha-Sapir, R. Below, Ph. Hoyois – EM-DAT: The CRED/OFDA International Disaster Database –www.emdat.be – Université Catholique de Louvain – Brussels – Belgium.
**http://dil.bosai.go.jp/workshop/05kouza_chiiki/00toppage/index.htm
