EARTHQUAKE RISK REDUCTION ACHIEVEMENT “Iranian Experience”

Iran with high density of quaternary faults is being located in the active Alpine- Himalayan seismic belt or in a region between Arabian and Euro-Asia plate, and consequently is an earthquake prone country that has experienced more than 130 strong earthquakes with magnitude of greater than 7.5 in the past history and approximately a daily earthquake of magnitude 2.5. The high seismicity generated high level of seismic hazard almost in all part of the country. In the 20th Century alone, 22 major earthquakes have claimed over 150,000 lives and caused incalculable economic loss. In all the pastoccurred earthquakes, human and economic losses have been due to failure of structures that for the most part were incompatible with the level of earthquake hazard in Iran. The approximate estimation of risk in various part of the country shows the high level of risk in major cities, sheltering 37 percent of the country’s population. Considering the high earthquake risk in most part of Iran due to the fact of high level of seismic hazard, vulnerability of the built environment, rapid growth of human, socioeconomic values and low level of preparedness and lack of implementation of knowledge, a multidisciplinary strategic research and mitigation plan entitled “Iran Earthquake Risk Mitigation Program (IERMP)” have been developed by International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES) with the valuable advise and input from Prof. Luis Esteva after June 1990 Manjil earthquake. The program has been successfully implemented with the cooperation of related organizations in Iran. To evaluate the achievement of the IERMP, several indexes have been defined. The comparison of the indexes in the past and present shows that the implementation of the program has been a significant step (but not enough) toward the risk reduction in Iran. Based on the above mentioned facts, the achievements from the implementation of IERMP and the experience of the Bam earthquake of 2003, with the objective of moving toward an effective risk reduction program, the “Earthquake Risk Reduction Strategy of Iran” has been developed in early 2005 with the full consideration of socio-economic and cultural facts and situation of the country. Good planning and decision by Iran’s government after Manjil earthquake and excellent response by the scientific communities for implementing an earthquake hazard mitigation program has made visible achievements toward a seismically safe Iran. We believe Iran’s experience was success and can be easily applied to the other developing countries.