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| Iran | |
| Minister claims 70,000 victims in Iran quake | |
| 2003-12-28 | |
The devastating earthquake in Iran killed and injured up to 70,000 people in the city of Bam, said Iranian health minister on Saturday. âWe estimate now that 65 to 70 percent of the Bamâs population have either been killed or injured,â Dr Ahmad Pezeshkian told AFP. He estimated Bamâs population at 100,000 people, but did not venture to give a breakdown of the casualties from Fridayâs quake.
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| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #9 And thus the wages of living in the 7th century are paid, tragically. The shame is that it doesn't have to be this way. Fuck these militant Islamists who keep their people down. |
| Posted by: Les Nessman 2003-12-28 11:43:10 PM |
| #8 Well the Iranian money wasn't just in Mullahs; they also invested in nuclear bomb making. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-12-28 6:08:50 PM |
| #7 It doesn't matter whether it was vertical or horizontal accelerations that did the damage. Unreinforced mud brick will disinegrate either way. That is what happens when you put your money in mullahs and not in good engineering, construction, quality control and code enforcement. If people do not want to live (and die) that way, they should consider regime change. The Turks have had the same results in with crooked contractors skimping on materials and methods, and inspectors who have looked the other way. I hope that this wakes up the Iranian people. They do not have to face tragedies of this proportion that happened in Bam. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-28 1:57:35 PM |
| #6 Another factor is where the epicenter occurs vis a vis cities. The Coalinga quake in California back in 83 or so was deadly both because of all the old brick buildings in the town and because the center of the quake was very close by, so they took the full brunt of it. I was doing 65 mph or so on Hwy 101 not too far from Coalinga that day. It was awe-inspiring to see the surface of the road rise and fall like an ocean wave - we suddenly found ourselves travelling one lane over. The in-laws were the 3rd car back when a section of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed in that 8+ quake a few years later. We had friends who lost everything when the earth on the hillsides came sliding down in that one .. their home was secured to the bedrock but it didn't stand a chance against the tons of rocks, trees and dirt. That quake went on and on, which is probably why everything loosened, as the house had withstood other large tremors with no difficulty. |
| Posted by: rkb 2003-12-28 10:14:17 AM |
| #5 Like Phil said, the strength isn't that unusual. What makes third-world quakes so deadly is a combination of poor construction materials and techniques, the prevalance of bribery to work around building code issues, and poor access to emergency services. Compare the December 22nd quake in California: 6.5 on the Richter. Thanks to building codes, strong inspections, and real emergency services, only two died. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-12-28 9:55:40 AM |
| #4 Time for another test of the Jew H.A.A.R.P. I hear Pakistans pretty unstable this time of year. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-28 9:32:26 AM |
| #3 Approximated estimates of estimated guesses... Had these numbers come from someone other than the Black Hats, I'd be more inclined to believe them, but... |
| Posted by: .com 2003-12-28 7:24:12 AM |
| #2 This earthquake is unusual not for its power the USGS is reporting richter 6.3 to 6.5, but the fatalities being reported for an earthquake of this magnitude makes it the most destructive in terms of human lives on record. Here is a list of earthquakes over the last 100 years - http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/eqsmajr.html |
| Posted by: phil_b 2003-12-28 3:10:36 AM |
| #1 That's because the people were living in biblical conditions. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-12-28 1:09:34 AM |