Volume 8, Issue 1 (20 2012)                   irje 2012, 8(1): 54-61 | Back to browse issues page

XML Persian Abstract Print


1- , holakoik@hotmail.com
Abstract:   (17362 Views)

Background & Objectives: Earthquakes cause thousands of deaths and injuries worldwide every year. Islamic Republic of Iran has a deadly history of earthquakes. The aim of this study is to describe injuries rate, causes of injuries, structural characteristics of buildings and occupant actions immediately after earthquake in Damghan in 2010.
Methods: This case-study was conducted one week after occurring the earthquake in five villages of Damghan city in Iran. We used the Physical Injuries Assessment Questionnaire which was particularly designed for injuries after earthquakes. Also for acquiring information about region and amount of losses, some interviews was conduct with local authorities.
Results: Four death and fifty six injuries occurred in five villages of Damghan city. There were three types of injuries including superficial injuries (50%), contusions (35%) and fractures (10%). The findings of this study indicating building structural failure (87.4%), nonstructural factors (7.1%) and trapping (5.3%) seems the most possible cause of injuries in this region.
Conclusion: This study showed that the building structural failure is the main cause of injuries (87.4%). Increasing structural resistance of building especially in village regions and education about earthquake preparedness should encourage in order decreasing the total number of people affected by earthquake.

Normal

Full-Text [PDF 332 kb]   (3323 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Research | Subject: General
Received: 2011/05/21 | Accepted: 2011/08/27 | Published: 2013/09/17

Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.