By Xinhua,
Tehran : Earthquakes cause 200 million U.S. dollars in damage in Iran annually, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
Deputy head of Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) Commission on Construction Mohammad-Hossein Moqimi made the remarks while addressing the National Reinforcement Conference in Boroujerd Azad University in the southwestern province of Lorestan.
Natural disasters claim 46,000 lives annually across the globe, of which 4,600 or 10 percent is caused by quakes, Moqimi said, adding that the number of death tolls from quakes in Asian countries is 4,100 annually, of which Iran’s share is 2,400.
Moqimi emphasized the importance of reinforcing foundations of houses and renovating buildings, saying that some 97 percent of old rural and urban buildings are exposed to natural disasters.
Referring to the government plan to reinforce rural housing units within 10 years, he said that once the plan becomes operational the quake-related damages would sharply reduce.
Iran is often shaken by quakes of varying magnitudes as it sits on some of the world’s most active seismic fault lines.