Timescape of the earthquake disasters in iran: the intricacies of earthquake time and earthquake disaster risk reduction

Abstract

Time is a crucial coordinate for seismology, though often its ubiquity is forgotten by society as it is taken for granted and its potential is unexplored within the arena of earthquake disaster risk reduction. Earthquake disasters build up over time. An earthquake is a dramatic context that takes just tiny units of time to bring an immense tragedy of human loss, suffering and destruction. This paper targets the exploration of the timescape for four large earthquake disasters in Iran: Bam in 2003, Rudbar in 1990, Tabas in 1978 and Buyin Zahra in 1962. An investigation of the intricacies of earthquake time and earthquake disaster time is performed for these four earthquake disasters which covers a time interval of 52 years. These large earthquake disasters are considered as chronological milestones for the Iranian seismic timescape. This contributes to model seismic patterns with the aim to reduce the epistemic uncertainty and encourage better earthquake preparedness and earthquake disaster risk reduction. It is found that two perspectives, a geological perspective and earthquake disaster survivors' perspective and their associated aspects of time present a great potential for earthquake disaster risk reduction. A dramatic repetition of earthquake disaster time not only in time, but also in various places in Iran, highlights that living with earthquakes in Iran requires a better articulation of the relationship between the time of nature and the time of society and local communities. Furthermore, learning to live with earthquake time requires a long‐term mitigation of the earthquake hazard and improvement of the resilience of local communities.

Earthquake Disaster Risk Reduction in Iran: Lessons and “Lessons Learned” from Three Large Earthquake Disasters—Tabas 1978, Rudbar 1990, and Bam 2003

“…This reinforces the Japanese saying ''You can never be too prepared for earthquakes'' (Fukagawa 2007, p. 803) and explains why the culture of continuous learning from past earthquake disasters and continuous improvement of the earthquake and tsunamis disaster preparedness is ingrained within Japanese society and local communities (Ranghieri and Ishiwatari 2014). A country situated in an area prone to high seismic activities needs to be prepared for the worst scenario, because it just might happen (Eisner 2013) and it is just a matter of time (Berberian 2014;Ibrion et al 2015a). This Japanese model of culture of resilience and earthquake disaster risk reduction can be considered for adaptation to the Iran case.…”

“…The majority of people under the debris were saved by family members, relatives, neighbors, or other members of their community. This situation was identified with the occasion of previous earthquakes disasters such as the 1962 Buyin Zahra, 1978 Tabas, 1990 Rudbar (Ibrion et al 2015a), and many other earthquake disasters in Iran (Berberian 2014). This underlines the lesson about the importance of ''golden time'' after an earthquake, the role of local communities in search and rescue, and the necessity to improve their earthquake risk awareness and earthquake disaster preparedness (Ibrion et al 2015a).…”

“…The death toll increased and the coping capacity of survivors was affected. This lesson was repeated and did not become a ''Lesson Learned'' after many other earthquakes in Iran, including the Buyin Zahra 1962, Tabas 1978, and later on, Bam 2003 earthquakes (Ibrion et al 2015a). People under the rubble were saved by family members, neighbors, or other members of their community.…”

“…The absence of organized search and rescue missions in the first critical hours after the earthquake increased the death toll (Movahedi 2005;Tierney et al 2005;Ibrion et al 2015a). One of the Bam survivors recalled the experience of being trapped under debris and emphasized the discrepancy between what is usually perceived to be the experience of being trapped under debris and what is the real dramatic experience: ''Many people think that being under debris meaning that the person is in close corner or stock in one space, but this is not true.…”

“…Iran is situated in a high seismic part of the Alpine-Himalayan belt and has a long history of frequent earthquake disasters that have caused large numbers of deaths, injuries, and massive destructions (Ambraseys and Melville 1982;Berberian et al 1992;Berberian 2014). Earthquakes in Iran have often resulted in disasters (Berberian 2014;Ibrion et al 2015a). Three earthquake disasters that were considered among the worst and deadliest disasters in Iran in the last 100 years were examined in this study : Tabas in 1978, Rudbar in 1990, and Bam in 2003.…”