Special Issue on Bam EarthquakeVolume 5: No. 4 (Winter 2004) – Volume 6: No. 1 (Spring 2004)

Editorial Summary: Bam Earthquake of 05:26:26 of 26 December 2003, Ms6.5
M. Ghafory-Ashtiany

The Magnitude Ms = 6.5 earthquake of 26th December 2003 occurred at early morning (05:26:26 local time) along Bam fault with no recorded of any major earthquake, at least, approximately in past 2500 years; and while many residents of the Bam historical city were still sleeping. The traditional mud-brick and clay homes put up little resistance to the violent shaking, and as walls and roofs crumbled and collapsed; more than 100,000 of victims were trapped beneath the rubble and from them around 26,500 lost their lives. Close to 11,000 of the city’s students perished, along with one to five of Bam’s 5,400 teachers. Tens of thousands were left homeless and up to 6,000 children were orphaned. Arg-e-Bam (Bam Citadel), the largest mud-brick complex in the world and other historical buildings were almost totally destroyed. Bam earthquake not only shook the heart and mind of the Iranian, but the world and created on the biggest human solidarity. This earthquake have created a new initiative in Iran’s risk reduction program and consequently provides a unique window of opportunity to raise international awareness of the importance of the effective implementation of a comprehensive earthquake risk reduction program in hazard-prone countries.