Posted on 01/01/2004 8:23:51 AM PST by John H K
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian scientists said on Thursday they had revised the magnitude of an earthquake that struck the southeastern city of Bam last Friday to about 6.8 from the previously reported 6.3 on the Richter scale.
The Housing and Construction Research Centre said the analysis of 18 monitoring stations in and near the quake zone showed the quake was not only more powerful than first thought but also that its epicentre was directly under the city.
The pre-dawn earthquake destroyed most of the buildings in Bam, 1,000 km southeast of Tehran, and killed an estimated 30,000, although some officials have warned the death toll could rise to 50,000.
"Based on data from 18 monitoring sites in and near Bam we have now retrieved, the earthquake registered 6.8," Jafar Shoja Taheri, head of seismology research at a Mashhad University told state television.
"It is more than the 6.3 previously reported," he said.
The U.S. Geological Survey issued a preliminary report last week saying the Bam quake measured at 6.6 magnitude.
Shoja Taheri, also a member of the state housing and construction research body, said that of the 30 seismological monitoring stations in and near Bam, only 18 have been found.
"One of the monitored sites was located in the Bam governor's office," he added. "That data showed that the earthquake's epicentre was directly beneath Bam."
Some Tehran scientists have said the quake was about 16 km (10 miles) below the surface. About 90 percent of the mud brick-style buildings in the ancient city were destroyed.
Shoja Taheri said that data were still provisional and further analysis could lead to another revision.
"It will take time to survey and analyse all the data and come to a final conclusion of the magnitude," he said.
It's routine for estimates right after a quake to vary widely, or to have fairly large revisions in a magnitude MONTHS after a quake.
Anyway, hopefully the stupid gloating comparisons between the San Simeon quake and the Bam quake by people who frankly don't have the foggiest idea of what they're talking about will die down; it's a logarithmic scale so 6.8 would put the Bam quake at well over twice the power of the San Simeon quake.
But the key aspect is this quake occured DIRECTLY under Bam. The California quake occured directly under basically nothing.
Wish it had been Tikrit, Iraq.
The CIA has got the world wired to sense atomic tests, especially in the Middle East, so we've probably got better data than Iran does.
How can only one monitoring site determine the epicenter? Wouldn't you need at least 3 sites spread out?
They have data from 17 other sites ''in and near Bam''; 13 monitors haven't been found. No doubt there are more across the region and they have a good idea where the fault lines run.
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