1.14 BAM bitch

Question 1

Where is Bam?

Answer 1

• desert oasis located in isolated part of Southern Iran
• UNESCO heritage site
• Arabian and Eurasian plate collision
• Iran is middle income country (75/187)
• high population density
• geographically isolated (one main road into city which ended up getting blocked in EQ)

Question 2

When did the EQ happen?

Answer 2

• 26th December 2003

- early in morning so many people were still asleep in their homes

Question 3

What caused more casualties?

Answer 3

• Iranian building code hadn’t been effectively enforced amongst new buildings (built to replicate ancient mud brick structures) which attract tourists
• citizens were not involved with mitigation as they lack knowledge of the tectonic situation
• rapid urbanisation meant cheap building were not EQ resistant
• brain drain
• three main hospitals were destroyed with 20% health care professionals killed and the remainder too injured to provide care
• cold winter weather meant many trapped casualties died from hypothermia rather than direct crush injuries

Question 4

How many people were killed in this EQ?

Answer 4

26,000