BAM: The High Cost of Complacency
Released: January 2004
As people and their governments around the world extend sympathy and
send aid to survivors of the December 26, 2003 earthquake disaster in
Bam, Iran, we at GeoHazards International renew our resolve to improve
earthquake safety in vulnerable communities everywhere. We invite you
to join us in this effort.
It is during the first tragic days of rescue and emergency relief that
the high cost of complacency toward earthquake risk reduction and improved
global earthquake safety emerges most strikingly. Soon the fallen citadel
of Bam — formerly the world’s largest adobe structure of
its kind — will recede from headlines around the world as a symbol
of nature’s power to strike down ancient yet transitory monuments.
Much attention will be given to rebuilding this historic city on the
east-west caravan route once called the Silk Road. While acknowledging
the natural resource, climatological and traditional construction parameters
of the region, some significant portion of the human and fiscal assistance
directed toward Bam should be allocated to training local masons on
how to build earthquake-resistant structures.
Too often in the past, well-meaning organizations, in their hurry to
provide shelter against severe weather conditions, have built essentially
row houses of concrete boxes. Sooner or later, however, the local people
will build again in the traditional, earthquake-vulnerable way. Now
that the local population of Bam and the authorities responsible for
community safety have experienced firsthand the threat posed by earthquakes,
steps can be taken to reduce the region’s earthquake vulnerability.
Most housing in Bam will have to be rebuilt, and this is the time to
train a new generation of masons on how to do things right. Regardless
of the funding source, this should be a requirement of all reconstruction
projects.
Even as we mourn the victims of the Bam earthquake and sympathize with
the survivors, we must strengthen our resolve to replace complacency
and heighten awareness for the need to improve global earthquake safety.
We must direct our energies to preventing such disasters in earthquake-prone
regions in the future. Concerned citizens, governments, multi-lateral
development institutions, corporations, and non-profit organizations
must act together now to help vulnerable communities overcome the barriers
to implementing risk reduction measures. Action must be taken to initiate
sound construction norms and practices before another deadly earthquake
strikes. Your voice, joined with the efforts of GeoHazards International,
can make a difference.
For a safer future in an earthquake-threatened world, please
consider supporting our work today.
GeoHazards International periodically
issues press releases to raise awareness about the dangers from natural
disasters faced by vulnerable communities around the world.
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For further information contact:
Brian Tucker
GeoHazards International
(650) 614-9050
tucker@geohaz.org
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