Risk Wise

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Iran earthquake risk reduction strategy

and the International Institute of Earthquake

Engineering and Seismology (IIEES)

Mohsen Ghafory-Ashtiany, Distinguished Professor, Founder and Past President, IIEES

ran, being located in high seismic hazard regions of the

world with frequent occurrence of devastating earthquakes,

has experienced high human, social and property losses in

past decades due to vulnerability of the built environment, rapid

population growth and seismically-incompatible urban devel-

opment. To ensure the sustainable development of Iran requires

a multidisciplinary risk reduction strategy with the objective of

saving human lives and resources; along with an effective imple-

mentation programme. The establishment of the International

Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES) in

1989, with the cooperation of UNESCO, provided an excellent

platform for answering the increasing demand for safety, devel-

opment of the required disaster reduction programme and

providing the required know-how and expertise for hazard and

risk mapping, vulnerability reduction and public awareness and

preparedness.

Considering that not a great deal was done before the

Manjil earthquake, for the purpose of the following

discussion, the risk reduction efforts in Iran can be

divided into two main eras: post-Manjil earthquake

(1990-2003), and post-Bam earthquake (2003-present).

Post-Manjil earthquake (1990-2003)

The first move toward earthquake risk mitigation in Iran

was started after the devastating Manjil earthquake of

June 1990, with its heavy socioeconomic impact. After

this tragic event and in the beginning of the

International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction

(IDNDR), the Government decided to implement a

multidisciplinary strategic research and mitigation plan

called the Iran Earthquake Risk Mitigation Program

(IERMP). The programme, which was developed by

IIEES, had the following objectives:

• Increasing the scientific knowledge required for

earthquake hazard mitigation

• Reduction of risk of failure in different types of

constructions and the need to build safer structures

• Increasing public awareness of seismic hazards and

promoting a collective prevention culture

• Developing plans for post-earthquake actions.

The comparison of the indexes before and after the

implementation of the programme indicates the signif-

icant steps (though not yet sufficient) that have been

taken toward risk reduction in Iran, which made the

Manjil earthquake a turning point in the earthquake

risk reduction history of Iran. The main practical

achievements of this programme can be summarized as

follows:

• Expanding seismic and strong motion networks as

well as establishing advanced geotechnical and

structural laboratories; this resulted in better

assessment of Iran’s seismicity and seismic related

hazards

• Improvement of research, education, technical

knowledge and the know-how required for

implementation of a risk reduction programme in

Iran

A map showing building damage zonation for anticipated

earthquake hazards in Iran

Source: Ghafory-Ashtiany