TEHRAN – The Regional Education and Research Center on Earthquake Risk Management and Resilience for West and Central Asia was inaugurated in Tehran on Tuesday.

The center was established under the auspices of UNESCO and in collaboration with the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, IRNA reported.

The center aims at providing technical and specialized services in the field of earthquake risk reduction, crisis management, and improving resilience against possible earthquakes in countries located in West and Central Asia.

Facilitating international cooperation in the field of safety against earthquakes and natural hazards is one of the most important goals of the center.

The mission of the center is to help the governments of the region to develop a road map and formulate a comprehensive plan to reduce the risk of earthquakes at different levels in order to promote resilience against earthquakes.

It also aims to identify national and regional priorities in the field of reducing the risk of accidents and responding to related needs.

Strengthening national and regional capacities and capabilities in the field of earthquake risk reduction, and holding educational and training courses to promote general awareness and specialized knowledge in the region are among the priorities of the center.

Cooperation with regional countries in implementing joint projects and educational activities (such as earthquake drills) and attracting the participation of national and international advocators for disaster risk reduction projects in the region is one of the other missions of the center.

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.

Iran has entered a decade of earthquakes since the [Iranian calendar] year 1396 (March 2017- March 2018), as the Iranian plateau is shrinking by 30 millimeters per year, Mehdi Zare, professor of engineering seismology at the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES), has said.

About 2 percent of the earthquakes in 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 Zare.

The occurrence of earthquakes on February 6, 2023, Mw7.8 and Mw7.5 in southern Turkey and northern Syria, on the northwestern border of the Arabian plate and at the point of collision with the Anatolian block (Eurasian plate), and the occurrence of the earthquake on 12 November 2017 in Sarpole Zahab in the basement of Folded Zagros belt in Iran, Mw7.3 has raised the important question of where and when the next major earthquakes may occur on this border and around the Arabian Plate.

MG