2005 Zarand earthquake
Encyclopedia
2005 Zarand earthquake hit the city of Zarand
Zarand, Iran
Zarand is a city in and the capital of Zarand County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 54,745, in 12,992 families.It is located about northwest of the provincial capital of Kerman....

 and several villages in Kerman province
Provinces of Iran
Iran is subdivided into thirty one provinces , each governed from a local center, usually the largest local city, which is called the capital of that province...

 of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 on February 22, 2005. The earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 happened at 5:55 local time (2:25 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...

) and was measured at 6.4 on the Richter scale
Richter magnitude scale
The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....

. The quake lasted for 11 seconds and at least 61 aftershock
Aftershock
An aftershock is a smaller earthquake that occurs after a previous large earthquake, in the same area of the main shock. If an aftershock is larger than the main shock, the aftershock is redesignated as the main shock and the original main shock is redesignated as a foreshock...

s were reported http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-499479 ranging in magnitude between 3.3 and 4.8. Zarand is located 740 km southeast of Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

. The maximum recorded peak ground acceleration
Peak ground acceleration
Peak ground acceleration is a measure of earthquake acceleration on the ground and an important input parameter for earthquake engineering, also known as the design basis earthquake ground motion...

 was 0.51 g at Shirinrud dam.

Damage and casualties

Though official reports by Iranian authorities indicate 612 dead and 990 injured, ISNA
Iranian Students' News Agency
The Iranian Students News Agency is a news organization run by Iranian university students. Established on November 4, 1999 in order to report on news from Iranian universities it now covers a variety of national and international topics. Editors and correspondents are themselves students in a...

 reports 790 dead and 1,423 injured according to officials in Kerman University of Medical Sciences http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-497356. Four villages, each having around 1,000 inhabitants, were reported completely destroyed, and 30% to 70% of buildings in more than 40 villages were reported damaged.

Affected area

It is estimated that the population of the affected area exceeds 30,000. A great portion of population of several villages are severely affected because of poor condition of buildings. The epicenter of the quake was in a mountainous and sparsely inhabited area. It is believed that the death toll could have been much higher if the quake had stricken a more densely-populated area like Bam
Bam, Iran
Bam is a city in and the capital of Bam County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 73,823, in 19,572 families.The modern Iranian city of Bam surrounds the Bam citadel. Before the 2003 earthquake the official population count of the city was roughly 43,000. There are...

.

According to governor of Kerman province http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-496796 and an independent investigation carried out by ISNA http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-498202 the following cities and villages are affected:
Note: Spelling of names specially italicized ones may have alternative forms.
City or village |Population | Damage | Confirmed casualties
English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 
Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

Sarbagh سرباغ - 100% 50
Dahuyeh (Dahouyeh) داغویه (داهوییه) ‏ 829 95-100% 136
Houtkan (Houdkan) حتکن ~1,000 90% 337
Katguiyeh کتگوییه 200 90% -
Sakoukan سکوکان - 90% 22
Reyhanshahr ریحانشهر - 85% 60
Baha-abad بهاآباد - 80% 55
Amroudieh امرودیه - 80% 13
Madboun مدبون - 80% 13
Abdolabad عبدل آباد - 70% 18
Fathabad فتح آباد - 70% 12
Aliabad-e Olia علی اباد علیا - 70% 9
Baharestan بهارستان - 70% 5
Motahharabad مطهرآباد - 60% 5
Sousefid سوسفید - 60% 1
Sarbanan سربنان 3,000 45% -
Vahdat villages دهستان وحدت 11,000 45% -
Khanouk خانوک 2,880 45% -
Zarand زرند ~15,000 30% 23
Reyhan-Dasht ریحان دشت 10,000 30% -
Dastkavineh دستکوینه - - 30
Kerman
Kerman
- Geological characteristics :For the Iranian paleontologists, Kerman has always been considered a fossil paradise. Finding new dinosaur footprints in 2005 has now revealed new hopes for paleontologists to better understand the history of this area.- Economy :...

 
کرمان - - 7
Ravar راوار - - 3
Kan کن 490 - -

Previous quakes

The region of Zarand is close to an active fault, known as the Kuhbanan fault http://www.ngdir.ir/States/StateComment.asp?PStateCode=13&PID=161 in the north east of the city. Its trend is northwest-southeast and its length is 160 km.

Zarand has been hit by several quakes in the last 70 years, with the oldest recorded one going back to 1933.

On December 21, 1977, the area was hit by a 6.2-magnitude earthquake leaving 521 dead and 3 villages completely destroyed.
On December 26, 2003, another devastating earthquake happened in Bam
Bam, Iran
Bam is a city in and the capital of Bam County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 73,823, in 19,572 families.The modern Iranian city of Bam surrounds the Bam citadel. Before the 2003 earthquake the official population count of the city was roughly 43,000. There are...

, 200 km southwest of Zarand, which is in the same province.

External links


Technical records


News coverage

  • BBC News
    BBC News
    BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...

    :
    1. Hundreds killed in Iranian quake
    2. Race to reach Iran quake victims
    3. Rain slows Iran quake aid effort
    4. 'No-one knew what to do'
  • AFP
    Agence France-Presse
    Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...

    : Rescuers pull bodies from quake-hit Iran villages as toll tops 530.
  • Shargh
    Shargh
    Shargh is the most popular reformist newspaper in Iran. It is managed by Mehdi Rahmanian, and its chief editor was Mohammad Ghouchani in its first period of publication...

     newspaper (in Persian
    Persian language
    Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

    ):
    1. More than 450 victims of Zarand earthquake.
    2. 700 killed, 1,200 injured.
  • ISNA
    Iranian Students' News Agency
    The Iranian Students News Agency is a news organization run by Iranian university students. Established on November 4, 1999 in order to report on news from Iranian universities it now covers a variety of national and international topics. Editors and correspondents are themselves students in a...

    photo reports on Zarand earthquake: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
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