January 17-2014
Iran was one of only seven countries in the world to suffer earthquake fatalities last year, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said in its annual assessment of quakes.
Several significant earthquakes occurred in 2013, including two magnitude 8.0 or greater temblors. USGS said 17 earthquakes reached magnitude 7.0-7.9, including a 7.8 quake in Iran’s Baluchestan province that recorded only a single fatality as it was in such a remote and sparsely populated area.
The USGS measured 1,194 quakes magnitude 5.0 or larger in 2013. This compares with 1,558 such quakes in 2012 and 2,495 in 2011.
Earthquakes were responsible for about 1,400 deaths in 2013, with 825 or more than half having perished in the magnitude 7.7 event on September 24 in Pakistan’s Baluchestan province, not far from Iran’s borders.
USGS said deadly quakes occurred in only six other countries. According to news reports at the time, these are the fatality tolls for 2013:
Pakistan 825
Philippines, 230
China 216
Iran 49
Indonesia 43
Solomon Is. 18
Afghanistan 18
Largely because of poor construction, Iran has fatalities in most years. In 2012, 312 people died in Iran from quakes. None died in 2011 while 16 died in 2010. There has not been a huge death toll in 10 years, however, since an estimated 26,000 died December 26, 2003, in Bam.
Last year, four earthquakes in Iran caused fatalities. The last column shows the reported death toll:
Bushehr 6.1 April 9 39
Hormuzgan 6.2 May 11 1
Baluchestan 7.8 May 16 1
Borazjan 5.7 Nov 28 8
The biggest earthquake in the United States and the 6th largest quake of 2013 was a magnitude 7.5 in Craig, Alaska, on January 5. But there were no deaths.
On average, the USGS National Earthquake Information Center publishes the locations for about 40 earthquakes per day, or about 14,500 annually. USGS publishes worldwide earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.5 or greater and US earthquakes of 2.5 or greater. On average, 18 of these earthquakes have a magnitude of 7.0 or higher each year.
To monitor earthquakes worldwide, the USGS National Earthquake Information Center receives data in real-time from about 1,000 stations in 85 countries.
