List of earthquakes in Iran

Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major faults that cover at least 90% of the country.[1] As a result, earthquakes in Iran occur often and are destructive.

Earthquakes in Iran from 1990–2006, by United States Geological Survey

Iran Faults

Geology and history

The Iranian plateau is subject to most types of tectonic activity, including active folding, faulting and volcanic eruptions. It is well known for its long history of disastrous earthquake activity. Not only have these earthquakes killed thousands, but they have also led to waste of valuable natural resources.[2] Since 1900, at least 126,000 fatalities have resulted from earthquakes in Iran.[2] In addition, the Iranian Plate is bordered by the Indian Plate (to the southeast), the Eurasian Plate (to the north), and the Arabian Plate (to the south and west), which is where the Zagros fold and thrust belt (an ancient subduction zone) lies.

Earthquakes

Date	Province	Mag.	MMI	Deaths	Injuries	Total damage/notes
2020-05-07	Tehran	4.6 Mw	V	2	38		[3][4]
2020-02-23	West Azerbaijan	5.7 Mw	VII	10	125		[5]
2019-11-07	East Azerbaijan	5.9 Mw	VIII	7	584		[6]
2019-07-08	Khuzestan	5.7 Mw	VII	1	100		[7]
2018-11-25	Kermanshah	6.3 Mw	VIII	1	761
2018-08-25	Kermanshah	6.0 Mw	VII	3	243
2017-12-20	Tehran	5.2 Mw	VI	2	97	4.0 Mw  aftershock: 1 dead, 75 injured
2017-11-12	Kermanshah	7.3 Mw	VIII	630	8,435
2017-05-13	North Khorasan	5.6 Mw	VII	3	370
2017-04-05	Khorasan-e Razavi	6.1 Mw	VII	2	34
2017-01-06	Fars	5.0 Mw	VI	4	5
2014-08-18	Ilam	6.2 Mw	VIII		60–330
2013-11-28	Bushehr	5.6 Mw	VII	7	45
2013-04-13	Sistan and Baluchestan	7.7 Mw	VII	35	117
2013-04-09	Bushehr	6.3 Mw		37	850
2012-08-11	East Azerbaijan	6.4 Mw	VIII	306	3,037	Doublet
2012-08-11	East Azerbaijan	6.3 Mw				Doublet
2011-06-15	Kerman	5.3		2
2010-12-20	Kerman	6.5 Mw	IX	11	100
2010-08-27	Semnan	5.8 Mw	VII	4	40	800 displaced
2008-09-10	Qeshm	5.9 Mw		7	45
2006-03-31	Lorestan	6.1 Mw	VIII	63–70+	1,246–1,418
2005-11-27	Qeshm	5.8 Mw	VII	13	100
2005-02-22	Kerman	6.4 Mw	VIII	612	1,411
2004-05-28	Māzandarān	6.3 Mw	VIII	35	278–400	$15.4 million
2003-12-26	Kerman	6.6 Mw	IX	26,271	22,628–30,000	45,000–75,600 displaced
2002-06-22	Qazvin	6.3 Mw	VIII	261	1,500
1998-03-14	Kerman	6.6 Mw	VIII	5	50		[8]
1997-05-10	South Khorasan	7.3 Mw	X	1,567	2,300
1997-02-29	Ardabil	6.1 Mw	VIII	1,100	2,600
1990-06-20	Gilan	7.4 Mw	X	35,000–50,000	60,000–105,000
1981-07-28	Kerman	7.1 Ms	IX	1,500	1,000
1981-06-11	Kerman	6.6 Mw	VIII+	1,400–3,000	many
1978-09-16	South Khorasan	7.4 Mw	IX	15,000–25,000
1972-04-10	Fars	6.7 Mw	IX	5,374	1,710
1970-07-30	Khorasan	6.7		175	450		[9] [10]
1968-08-31	South Khorasan	7.4 Mw	X	15,000
1968-09-01	South Khorasan	6.4 Mw		900
1965-02-10	East Azerbaijan	5.1		20
1962-09-01	Qazvin	7.1 ML	IX	12,225	2,776
1960-04-24	Fars	6.0 Muk		420			[11]
1958-08-16	Hamadan	6.7 Muk		132			[11]
1957-12-13	Kermanshah	7.1		1,130			[12]
1957-07-02	Māzandarān	7.1		1,200			[12]
1953-02-12	Semnan	6.6 Mw	VIII	800–973	140
1947-08-05	South Khorasan	7.3		500
1932-05-20	Māzandarān	5.4 Muk	VIII	1,070			[11]
1930-05-06	West Azerbaijan	7.1 Mw	IX	1,360–3,000
1929-05-01	Khorasan-e Razavi	7.2 Mw	IX	3,257–3,800	1,121
1923-05-25	Khorasan-e Razavi	5.9 Mw	VII+	2,200		More than 7 villages destroyed	[13]
1909-01-23	Lorestan	7.3 ML	IX	6,000–8,000
1895-01-17	Khorasan-e Razavi	6.8 Ms	VIII	1,000–11,000
1893-11-17	Khorasan-e Razavi	6.6 Ms	X	18,000
1864-01-17	Kerman		VIII	Many			[11]
1853-05-05	Fars		IX	13,000			[11]
1755-06-07	Isfahan			40,000
1727-11-18	East Azerbaijan		VIII	77,000
1721-04-26	East Azerbaijan	7.7 Ms	VIII–X	8,000–250,000
1679-06-04	Yerevan, Armenia	6.4 Ms	IX–X	7,600		Under Iranian rule at the time
1667-11-25	Shamakhi, Azerbaijan	6.9 Ms	X	80,000		Under Iranian rule at the time
1042-08-21	East Azerbaijan	7.6		40,000
893-03-23	Ardabil			150,000
856-12-22	Semnan	7.9 Ms		200,000
Note: Mw = moment magnitude scale, Ms = surface wave magnitude, and Muk = unknown. The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described also apply to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded.

See also

• Environmental issues in Iran
• Geology of Iran
• Iranian Earthquake Engineering Association (IEEA)

References

1. "Preliminary Earthquake Reconnaissance Report on the June 22, 2002 Changureh (Avaj), Iran Earthquake". International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology. 2002-07-19. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
2. Manuel Berberian. "100 years; 126,000 deaths". The Iranian.
3. "M 4.6 - 2km WNW of Damavand, Iran". USGS. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
4. "Moderate Iran quake kills two, draws many into Tehran streets". Reuters. 8 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
5. "5.7 - 25km SE of Saray, Turkey". USGS. 2020-02-23.
6. APA.az (2019-11-09). "Number of wounded reaches 529 in quake in Eastern Azerbaijan province of Iran". apa.az (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 2019-11-09.
7. earthquake.usgs.gov https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us70004ejm/executive. Retrieved 2019-07-08. Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. Berberian 2014, p. 617
9. "Quake Levels Iranian Villages", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 31, 1970, p1
10. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/iscgem794114/executive
11. NGDC (1972), Significant Earthquake Database (Data Set), National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA, doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K
12. "Earthquakes with 1,000 or More Deaths since 1900". United States Geological Survey. January 29, 2009. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2009.
13. Berberian 2014, p. 593

Sources

• Berberian, M. (2014), Earthquakes and Coseismic Surface Faulting on the Iranian Plateau, Developments in Earth Surface Processes (1st ed.), Elsevier, ISBN 978-0444632920

External links

• Latest earthquakes in Iran and adjacent areas – Iranian Seismological Center