زلزله ، شهرها و گسل ها

Earthquakes ,Cities , and Faults

In view of Iran,s being located on one of the tow seismic belts of the world as well as the very existence of copious geologic fault ,the occurrence of earthquake in the plateau of Iran is but a natural phenomenon . Iran is one of the ten cataclysm - generating countries and the sixth in number of the world earthquake - generating countries . That is why earthquake inflicts high death toll of human lives . Moreover the seismic zone encompasses 90% of the territorial area of our country . But what is more important in this regard , is the regrettable location of cities and metropolises ( such as Tehran , Tabriz...) that have been built on or within the vicinity of geologic fault and , as a result , are unquestionably prone to earthquake menace . This is because Iran is one of the countries that have taken on their formation through innumerable geologic faults whose movements cause the release of stored energy leading to reccurrence of earthquake meting out heavy human casualty and immense property losses in urban areas . In this paper , endevours will be made to probe into the cause of earthquake generation in the plateau of Iran and the negative effects of activities of faults on some of the cities taken as models and recall the dangers entailed therein .