A survey of challenges in reducing the impact of geological hazards associated with earthquakes in Iran

Most of the recent earthquakes in Iran were associated with some types of geological hazards that were the cause of additional damage and casualties in the earthquake-affected areas. In order to reduce the impacts of geo-hazards, several policies and plans were prepared, approved, and implemented by the Iranian government during the last two decades. However, such activities have not yet resulted in risk reduction to an acceptable level; since they are not formulated based on local conditions and are not linked to location-specific comprehensive plans. In this paper, after introducing some of the impacts of geo-hazards associated with recent earthquakes in Iran, the country trends in development of relevant risk reduction plans and policies are introduced, evaluated, and compared with some other countries having similar challenges. Strategies toward risk mitigation in the country are addressed, and a number of indices for the assessment of the geo-hazard risk reduction plans and activities are introduced. Finally, a conceptual model for the evaluation of the preparedness level against geo-hazards is proposed and discussed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012