2003 Bam Earthquake: The Destruction of an Ancient Iranian City

The Bam earthquake struck the city of Bam in south-eastern Iran at 5:26 a.m. on 26 December 2003. With a magnitude of 6.6 and an epicentre almost directly beneath the city, it killed about 26,000 people, left many thousands homeless and badly damaged the Arg-e Bam, a vast mud-brick citadel that had stood for centuries. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in Iran’s modern history and drew one of the largest international relief efforts the country had seen.

Background

Bam lies in Kerman province, on the edge of the Lut desert, in an oasis watered by qanats, underground channels that carry water from distant hills. It was known for its date palms and for the Arg-e Bam, the old fortified town overlooking the modern city. The citadel’s origins reach back more than 2,000 years, and it flourished as a stop on caravan routes; most of the structures that survived into modern times dated from the Safavid period (16th to 18th centuries). It had been abandoned in the 19th century and was partly restored from the 1950s onwards as a tourist attraction.

Iran sits where the Arabian plate pushes north-east into Eurasia, and earthquakes are common. Bam itself, however, had no record of a major destructive earthquake in historical times, and the danger beneath it was underestimated.

What happened

The earthquake ruptured a roughly north-south fault close to and partly beneath the city, one that had not previously been mapped as a separate hazard, at a shallow depth of roughly 8 to 10 kilometres. Strong shaking, with very high ground accelerations, lasted only a few seconds but was enough to bring down most of the buildings in Bam and the neighbouring town of Baravat.

Because it struck before dawn on a Friday, the Iranian weekend, most people were asleep. Many homes were built of sun-dried mud-brick with heavy domed or flat roofs, and these collapsed onto their occupants. Modern buildings of poorly built brick and steel also failed, as did hospitals, schools and the city’s main services, leaving survivors without electricity, water or medical care in the cold desert winter.

The Arg-e Bam was badly damaged. Many of its towers, walls and houses crumbled into piles of earth, although the core of the citadel survived in a ruined state.

The human cost

Iranian officials gave a final death toll of about 26,000, although estimates vary and some put it somewhat higher. Around 30,000 people were injured, and tens of thousands were left homeless. A large share of the city’s buildings, by most estimates around 85 to 90 per cent, were destroyed or seriously damaged.

Rescue efforts were led by the Iranian Red Crescent Society and the armed forces, but local responders had themselves been hit hard. Many survivors were pulled out by relatives and neighbours digging with their hands. Thousands of injured people were airlifted to hospitals in Kerman, Tehran and other cities.

International aid

The scale of the disaster prompted a large international response. Rescue and medical teams from dozens of countries arrived within days, and the United Nations coordinated relief. In a notable exception to the long hostility between the two governments, President Mohammad Khatami’s government accepted aid from the United States, and US military aircraft delivered relief supplies to Kerman; Washington also temporarily eased some sanctions to allow private donations.

Most international search-and-rescue teams arrived after the first 24 to 48 hours, when the chances of finding people alive under rubble fall sharply, a problem seen in many earthquakes. Relief then shifted to tents, field hospitals, water and sanitation for the homeless survivors.

Recovery and the citadel

The Iranian government planned the reconstruction of Bam with stricter building standards, and over the following years most of the city was rebuilt with reinforced structures. Survivors spent long periods in temporary shelters, and the loss of so many people left deep social scars, including large numbers of orphaned children.

In 2004 UNESCO inscribed “Bam and its Cultural Landscape”, including the citadel and the qanat system, on the World Heritage List and at the same time on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Iranian specialists, working with partners from countries including Italy, Japan and France, began stabilising and restoring the ruins using traditional mud-brick methods. The site was removed from the danger list in 2013.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 2003, 26 December, 5:26 a.m.: A magnitude 6.6 earthquake destroys most of Bam.
• 2003, 27-29 December: International rescue and medical teams arrive in Kerman province.
• 2003, late December: US military aircraft deliver relief supplies to Kerman, a rare sign of cooperation between the two governments.
• 2004, July: UNESCO inscribes Bam and its Cultural Landscape as a World Heritage Site in danger.
• 2013, June: The site is removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Why it matters

The Bam earthquake showed how a moderate, shallow earthquake directly beneath a city of vulnerable buildings can cause catastrophic loss of life, a lesson shared with disasters such as the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. It also destroyed much of a unique monument of earthen architecture and prompted one of the largest heritage restoration projects in the Middle East.