Iranian Air Defense Holds Earthquake Drills
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Members of the academy of Iran’s Air Defense Force participated in a drill on Saturday designed to exercise the proper crisis management skills in time of natural disasters, including earthquakes.
The drill was configured to simulate critical conditions in temblors as strong as magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale.
Participants exercised techniques for handling a range of problems when an earthquake hits, Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili told reporters on the sidelines of the exercises.
Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major fault lines that cover at least 90% of the country. As a result, earthquakes in Iran are not rare.
The deadliest quake in Iran's modern history happened in June 1990. It destroyed the northern cities of Rudbar, Manjil and Lushan, along with hundreds of villages, killing an estimated 37,000 people.
Bam in the country’s southeastern province of Kerman witnessed a strong quake in December 2003, which killed 31,000 people.