I have already written a proposal and annotated bibliography for this course. I have attached them so you would have an idea about the topic.
- Iran, which is above a complex tectonic region, is to the north of Arabian plate and to the south of Eurasian plate, with the Arabian plate pushing north and causing collisions in this region (Ghafory-Ashtiany, Hosseini, 2007). This consistent stress caused by the northward movement of Arabian plate, is the cause of high earthquake rates in Iran (Ghafory-Ashtiany, Hosseini, 2007).The Earthquake of Bam, which is one of the most devastating earthquakes in Iran, was also due to the tension between these plates. Bam earthquake was a 6.6 moment magnitude earthquake, that devastated Iran on December 2003 (Fielding, Lundgren, Burgmann & Funning, 2009). The earthquake ruptured a strike-slip fault buried under the region (Fielding, Lundgren, Burgmann & Funning, 2009). It led to the death of more than 26000 residents and injured another 30000 (Chini, Pierdicca & Emery, 2009). Moreover, being that Bam is known as a historic city in UNESCO world heritage, the 90% damage to the city’s structure had devastating effects (Chini et al, 2009).
Due to the high death toll and the heavy damage caused to the structure of city, it was very important for a prompt overview of the damage to occur in order to manage rescue e:orts and restoration activities (Chini et al, 2009). Therefore, the use of satellite based Earth observation would have been a great method in assessing such damages caused by earthquakes and other disasters (Chini et al, 2009). Moreover, a lack of research on the number of people trapped during the Bam earth quake, led to a slower rescue response from the government, which is why much research hasbeen conducted on estimating the population a:ected after the earthquake (Hassanzadeh, 2019). Therefore, sending appropriate models and methods for such estimation is critical for increasing the effciency of allocating limited including Iran Red Crescent Society, law enforcement forces and volunteers, the death toll and damage caused by the earthquake was very significant. Much of the buildings in the city of Bam prior to 2003 earthquake were constructed of brick or wood and not many had a steel frame (Ghafotory- Ashtiany, Hosseini, 2007). Due to the poor infrastructure of city, more than 80% of the buildings and most of the public facilities were destroyed after the earthquake (Ghafory-Ashtiany, Hosseini, 2007). In order to prevent such devastating consequences, it is important to appoint a set of regulations for the construction of buildings.
Examining various problems in the after math of the disaster led to identifying major problems in nutritional aid towards the population as well (Moghadam et al, 2017). Such issues were due to the lack of prediction and development of specific programs for aiding the population during times of resources (Hassanzadeh, 2019).Although the rescue responses reached Bam from all over the country, much research took place in understanding the cause of such high level of damage. Important lessons were learnt from the Bam earthquake, which led to the country becoming more prepared for other disastrous occurrences.
Outline:
- Begin by providing a factual description of the earthquake and a
background information on Iran.
- Address the cause of devastating consequences of the earthquake (for
instance the poor infrastructure)
- Provide the steps taken towards improvement and how these
consequences can be minimized in the future
- Conclude by stating the lessons learned from this event