Earthquakes

Citation

(2000), "Earthquakes", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 9 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2000.07309cac.002

Earthquakes

Earthquakes

1 May 1999 - Tehran, Iran

An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale hit southern Iran yesterday damaging buildings in one city and some villages, the official IRNA news agency reported today. IRNA said the quake left no casualties, but:

A number of buildings in the ancient part of Khonj city and in some villages of the region have been damaged.

7 May 1999 - A strong earthquake, measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, struck near the southern Iranian city of Shiraz early today, killing at least 16 people and injuring 68, Iranian radio said. State radio quoted an interior ministry official as saying the region, 50km south-west of Shiraz, was struck at 03.13 (22.43, GMT, Thursday), and a number of villages were badly damaged or destroyed. He said the area was later hit by a series of four aftershocks, with one registering 5.4 on the Richter scale. Emergency units from the army and police, as well as aid teams, had been dispatched to the region.

7 May 1999 - A strong earthquake hit southern Iran today, killing at least 26 people and destroying 800 houses in dozens of villages, Iranian state media reported. The quake, measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, also injured at least 100 people when it struck a mountainous area 50km south-west of Shiraz, the main city in Fars Province, in the early hours of the morning, state television said. The earthquake was followed by dozens of aftershocks, the strongest of which measured 5.4 on the Richter scale. Provincial governor Gholamreza Sahrayan said 800 houses had been flattened and that there was an acute need for tents for survivors, Iran's news agency IRNA reported. Sahrayan told state radio:

There has been heavy damage, partly due to the earthquake's power and partly because the buildings in the area were unstable.

He said many roads, water installations, schools and rural clinics had also been damaged in the earthquake-prone area. Nearly all the injured had been evacuated, he said.

13 May 1999 - A moderate earthquake struck southern Iran today but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The official IRNA news agency said the quake, measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale, struck just after midnight (1957, UTC, yesterday), about 50km south of the city of Shiraz.

15 June 1999 - Puebla, Mexico

Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo today declared a state of emergency after a powerful earthquake struck the south of the country, killing at least one person in the industrial city of Puebla. As he boarded an aircraft to head to Puebla after breaking off a visit to Cancun, Zedillo told reporters:

I have obviously ordered the Defence Minister to implement immediately a state of emergency.

The quake, measuring 6.7 on the open-ended Richter scale, struck just after 15.30 hrs, 20.30, UTC, with its epicentre near the borders of the southern states of Puebla and Oaxaca. Zedillo said:

The state of Puebla is the most damaged. We still don't have numbers for dead.

Other officials said at least one person died in Puebla, a major industrial centre with 4.8 million inhabitants, and 200 others were hurt, with injuries ranging from shock to broken bones. Local television said another 12 were trapped under rubble when part of the roof of Puebla's City Hall caved in. The quake was also felt strongly in Mexico City but no serious damage was reported in the capital.

16 June 1999 - Authorities in Mexico City are maintaining a state of alert after an earthquake of 6.7 degrees on the Richter scale shook the central states of Mexico yesterday, leaving 18 dead and more than 200 injured. The state of alert is set to continue for at least three days, since there is a risk that new quakes or aftershocks might cause more damage to affected buildings. At least 100 buildings have already been evacuated, including schools, churches, hospitals and residential buildings, the majority located in downtown Mexico City. Tuesday's quake struck several central states and the capital but the most affected zone was Puebla city, 12km east of Mexico City, and several rural locations in Puebla state, which neighbours Mexico City. The authorities said about 350 buildings have been damaged up to now, some of them destroyed. The epicentre was registered in Huajuapan de Leon, in the southern state of Oaxaca, where several communities were affected and damages have not yet been quantified.

17 June 1999 - The death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit central and southern Mexico earlier this week has been revised upward to 19, officials said today. The central state of Puebla suffered the worst of the impact. Thousands of people were affected and officials say damage to unique architectural monuments will run into millions of dollars. The latest figures from Puebla state authorities today put the number of dead there at 14. Another 188 people were injured and officials estimate 16,000 people suffered damage to their homes. Emergency workers were standing by to demolish the medical faculty at Puebla university, damaged beyond repair, while 280 churches across the state suffered cracks or lost domes and bell-towers, officials said. Many streets remained cordoned off in Puebla's historical centre today, with soldiers and police working round the clock to clear away rubble and keep bystanders back from edifices in danger of collapse. Mexico's development minister EstebÄn Moctezuma announced that $4.5 million would be made available to get rebuilding of homes under way across the state.