Housing for N. Khorasan Quake-Hit Families

Reconstructed and renovated residential units will be provided to last month’s quake-affected families in North Khorasan Province by October, prior to the start of the cold season, said Mohammad Hossein Ali-Nia, deputy of development affairs at the northeastern provincial governorate. 

Debris removal operations by 13 teams currently working in the quake-hit areas will be completed within two weeks, he said, IRNA reported.

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 14,509 houses in two cities and 77 villages in the vicinity (50 villages have been affected severely),” he added.

Around 2,500 residential units in the two cities need complete reconstruction, while 2,080 residential units are in need of rebuilding. 

Two villages, ‘Pesar Kanlou’ in Bojnurd and ‘Qarechai’ in Samalqan-Maneh counties, will be relocated and reconstructed in other areas as they were totally destroyed. The new locations have been determined, and funds for the construction operations are under review,” Hossein Azimi, director general of the provincial Crisis Management Office, and deputy for reconstruction and rural housing at the provincial Housing Foundation of Islamic Revolution, had said earlier. He did not reveal the new locations.

The quake 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. The 6.2-magnitude earthquake in 1995 killed and injured hundreds of people.