TEHRAN  - A medium-sized 4.1 magnitude earthquake rattled parts of South Khorasan on Tuesday; however, it caused no damage to historical sites across the eastern province.

 “No noticeable damage to historical structures and monuments has been reported so far based on field visits of the experts”, the provincial tourism chief Hassan Ramezani said on Wednesday, CHTN reported. 

In this region, the main concern of authorities is to prevent damage to the centuries-old Asbads (vertical-axis windmills), which are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. 

Made of natural clay, straw, and wood, an Asbad is typically comprised of eight chambers, with each chamber housing six blades. As the area’s strong, steady wind enters the chambers it turns the blades, which then turn grindstones. The structures reach up to about 65 feet in height.

Once being a smart technique to grind grains, such windmills bears testimony to the human being’s adaption with nature by transforming environmental obstacles into opportunities. 

“The earliest known references to windmills are to a Persian millwright in 644 CE and windmills in Seistan [Sistan], Iran, in 915 CE,” the Encyclopedia Britannica says.

ABU/AFM