TEHRAN – A total of 8,630 earthquakes have been recorded across the country over the past calendar year, which ended on March 20, according to the Seismological networks of the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Tehran.

Of the total quakes, 167 were more than 4 on the Richter scale, the largest of which occurred on November 14, 2021, with a magnitude of 6.3 in the southern province of Hormozgan.

Statistically, at least one earthquake with a magnitude of more than 5 has occurred monthly in the country.

The northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, the southeastern province of Kerman, and the central province of Isfahan registered the most earthquakes, while the northern province of Alborz, the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, and the northwestern province of Zanjan recorded the least earthquakes.

The Iranian plateau is located in a very seismically active region of the world and is known not only for its major catastrophic earthquakes but also for the disasters relating to natural hazards, especially earthquakes.

About 2 percent of the earthquakes of the world occur in Iran but more than 6% of the victims of the world earthquakes during the 20th century are reported from Iranian earthquakes. This shows the high level of vulnerability in Iran, according to Mehdi Zare, a professor of engineering seismology.

Tehran is also one of the most hazardous metropolises in the world in terms of the risk of different natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, subsidence, drought, landslide, fire following an earthquake, etc.

MG