Two villages, ‘Pesar Kanlou’ in Bojnurd and ‘Qarechai’ in Samalqan-Maneh, North Khorasan Province, will be relocated and reconstructed in other areas. They were recently hit by a strong earthquake and are prone to natural disasters.
“After visiting the villages, our experts said the risk of land subsidence in the area is high and therefore rebuilding the quake-hit villages would serve no purpose,” IRNA quoted Hossein Azimi, director general of the provincial Crisis Management Office as saying.
“The new locations have been determined and funds for the construction operations are under review,” said Azimi who is also deputy for reconstruction and rural housing at the provincial Housing Foundation of Islamic Revolution. He did not reveal the new locations of the villages.
Quake-affected families have accepted the relocation plan. “The lands in the area saw several meters of subsidence during the earthquake and are at risk of further subsidence due to the soft texture of the clay soil in the region.”
Three more villages in Bojnourd County, ‘Arab’, ‘Goli’, and ‘Sheikh Teymour,’ are also prone to land subsidence and need to be relocated, he added.
According to the latest data, from among 863,000 people living in the northeastern province, 48% live in rural areas.
On May 13, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake occurred in and around the city of Bojnurd, killing two people and leaving more than 400 people injured. The quake damaged many houses in the area.
It occurred at a depth of 12.5 km with epicenter just 50 km from the border with Turkmenistan. The region is on an active fault line stretching from Turkmenistan’s capital Ashkhabad into Iran’s three provinces of north, central (Razavi) and south Khorasan.
Official figures show that during the past 100 years 13 earthquakes stronger than 5.5 on the Richter scale were registered in North Khorasan Province. In 1995, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit the province killing and injuring hundreds of people.
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