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| Iran | |
| Doubtful if Iran will learn hard lesson from Bam | |
| 2003-12-30 | |
| Despite the Iranian president’s bold pledge to rebuild the devastated earthquake-hit city of Bam in two years, experts fear Tehran will do nothing to take proper precautions to avert such tragedy in the future. "The earthquake that destroyed Bam is the last warning for officials to force construction workers to conform to quake-resistant standards," said an official at Tehran’s city hall. "In Bam the problem was different. Most of the buildings were ancient, but obviously not even the new ones were built to anti-quake standards," Iranian architect Ahmad Behnam told AFP. The southeastern city was decimated in Friday’s earthquake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter scale. Old and new, private homes and state buildings, including new hospitals, were pulverised in the massive tremblor, killing at least 40,000. Newest estimate is up to 50,000. President Mohammad Khatami has said that architects of Bam’s newly-built public edifices, supposed to have complied with quake-resistant regulations, must face the music. If I remember correctly, one of the oldest legal decrees ever found (Babylon?) covered this subject: "If a man build a house, and it falls and crushes the people inside, then he shall be put to death". Since a 1991 earthquake killed 37,000 people and injured more than 100,000 in Iran’s northwestern provinces of Ghilan and Zandjan, Tehran decreed that all new buildings must be built to withstand tremors measuring eight degrees on the Richter scale. "The problem is that it is not very clear who should oversee the implementation of these laws," said Khatami. "Unfortunately, many inspectors responsible for checking (their) application don’t do their job or shut their eyes after getting a little backhander," said Behnam. Building inspectors are running for the hills.
Not built to code, more bribes. Even if the government was able to force quake-resistant regulations into practice, it would still leave almost 70 percent of Iranian property out in the cold. Aside from Tehran, 30 percent of Iran’s buildings are old. For the vast majority, it is impossible to do anything but fling gigantic sums at overhauling urban and rural planning. "These homes can’t even support their own weight, they crumble under the slightest pressure," said the city hall official. Wonder if this could be the trigger for a revolution? Could be if the mullahs are seen spending money on other things while the little people are dying. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 Just saw the local news where it was reported that the "president" of Iran (video of Khatami was on the screen) thanked the U.S for its aid but said that it wasn't going to warm the frosty relations between both nations. Well, that's gratitude for you, no? Anyway, it's no problem. It would behoove the mullahs then, not to ask for and not to expect any help from the U.S. the next time some sort of natural disaster happens. Let them take care of things on their own and see how they fare. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-12-30 9:55:35 PM |
| #7 50,000 dead is a catastrophe. I sincerely hope that people in Iran come to the realization that this level of death and destruction due to a seismic event is not necessary and that there are a bunch of well fed fanatical leaders that should be accountable for this disaster. I would not wish this loss on anybody. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-30 6:57:38 PM |
| #6 I'm tempted to sneer... but 50,000 dead is extremely bad Karma. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-30 5:45:05 PM |
| #5 Now we know why they named the town Bam. Damn, I wish it had hit Tehran. |
| Posted by: BH 2003-12-30 4:42:49 PM |
| #4 "In Bam the problem was different. Most of the buildings were ancient, but obviously not even the new ones were built to anti-quake standards," Iranian architect Ahmad Behnam told AFP. It's that evil Western technology. Yeah, that's it. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-12-30 4:30:03 PM |
| #3 Who would have figured it: Iran has a 6.5 magnitude earthquake and all the modern buildings fall down, even though Allah is with them. California has a 6.5 magnitude earthquake the week before and all the modern buildings remain standing, even though Michael Moore assures us that capitalists are so greedy that they'll always ignore public safety in search of a buck. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-12-30 4:26:29 PM |
| #2 Wonder if this could be the trigger for a revolution? Could be if the mullahs are seen spending money on other things while the little people are dying. Steve---this situation and its origins is just too big to cover up. As word gets out about the poor construction, materials, mullah moolah greasing the skids, there will be outrage. And people will look around at the vertical piles of s--t they call their own homes and they will be scared. And they will become angry. And then---s--t will hit the spinning black turban. Speaking of which, what have they been doing? Why building reactors and uranium processors, of course. Things are gonna start moving in Iran. Maybe Bush can visit Iran after Lybia. I can dream, can't I? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-30 3:57:53 PM |
| #1 Who knows, Steve. I would imagine that if anything this would cause the downfall of the Mullahs. This old Japanese saying might sum it up the best though. " Wash your neck and wait for me. " |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-12-30 3:21:23 PM |