TEHRAN - Designing and launching comprehensive systems with various layers of data for smart management of natural disasters are on the agenda, Hossein Zafari, an official with the Crisis Management Organization, has said.

Iran has about one percent of the world's population, but accounts for six percent of the damages caused by natural disasters, IRNA quoted Zafari as saying.

Surveys show that the damages caused by natural and man-made disasters in Iran cause an average of five billion dollars in damage annually, which has made Iran one of the ten most disaster-prone countries in the world and the fourth country in Asia, he explained.

The Iranian plateau, with its location between two vast expanses of water as well as the intersection of the Eurasian plateau and Saudi Arabia, has always been exposed to numerous natural hazards and disasters.

According to UN surveys, the main natural disasters listed for Iran in 2022 were drought, floods, and earthquakes. Subsidence is also a phenomenon that has emerged as one of the consequences of drought along with the aforementioned three challenges.

Earthquake, as one of the main natural challenges, occasionally becomes an uninvited guest of Iranian homes. On the other hand, the existence of important rivers and water reservoirs in the country has also increased flood risk.

Land subsidence, a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth's surface due to subsurface movement of earth materials is mainly caused by aquifer-system compaction, drainage, and decomposition of organic soils, underground mining, oil and gas extraction, hydro compaction, natural compaction, sinkholes, and thawing permafrost.

In 2022, Stefan Priesner, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Iran, said, “Iran has the potential to deal with natural disasters broadly and the United Nations is willing to document these valuable experiences.”

In case of natural disasters, the United Nations is ready to provide services by forming a permanent working group with representatives of the UN, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Disaster Management Organization, IRNA quoted Priesner as saying.

In June 2023, Priesner said the United Nations will use all its power and capacity to assist Iran in dealing with natural hazards by increasing operational performance and improving safety in specialized areas.

“Expressing the desirable capacities of Iran in dealing with natural hazards, he said that we will do everything to assist Iran. In this regard, we can increase operational performance and improve safety in the sector to enhance cooperation.”

MG