The 18th anniversary of the Bam earthquake

The Bam earthquake occurred on December 26, 2003 at 5:28 local time (1:26:26 on December 26, 2003 GMT) in the historic city of Bam in the southeast of the country and in the southeast of Kerman.

The epicenter was reported below the Bam border, based on information obtained from the main quake and aftershocks by seismologists and accelerometers based in Bam.

According to the studies, part of the Bam fault that passes by the city of Bam has been activated in this earthquake.
Bam city is located in Kerman province, one of the largest provinces of the country with an area of ​​186422 square kilometers.

The population of Bam during the 2003 earthquake is estimated at 100,000. The city of Bam is known as the historical citadel of Bam with more than 2000 years old.

Bam Citadel with an area of ​​6 square kilometers is the largest mud-brick complex in the world, which is located on a sandstone hill next to the Silk Road.

Although exact information is not available since the construction of Bam Citadel, but according to historical texts, it dates back to more than 2000 years ago. Although the building has been partially repaired locally several times throughout history, this is the first time it has been destroyed in such an earthquake. The historical citadel of Bam was inhabited until about 150 years ago.

The quake shook the country for just 12 seconds in the early hours of the morning, when most residents in Bam were asleep, but when most people were asleep in the morning, the death toll was very high.

To date, the death toll from the quake has risen sharply, but according to official figures, the quake killed at least 34,000 people, injured more than 19,000 and left more than 10,000 homeless.

According to Red Crescent population statistics, about 85% of the city was destroyed and 1.5 billion dollars, equivalent to 1245 billion tomans (in terms of the dollar rate equal to 830 tomans in 1982), economic losses remained and more than 30,000 people became homeless.

Arezoo Dehghani – Health in Disasters and Emergencies