Talk:Bam, Iran

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Minor query, but this BBC article is reporting the earthquake happened at 0158 GMT -- two minutes later than we have here. --Sam 21:53, 26 Dec 2003 (UTC)

USGS says " A strong earthquake occurred at 01:56:52 (UTC)". How much do you bet that this supposed "discrepancy" is cited over the next few days as "evidence" of some consipiratorial whatnot (CIA earthquake rays etc.)? -- Finlay McWalter 22:16, 26 Dec 2003 (UTC)
AFP says 0158 GMT too. -- whkoh 23:55, Dec 27, 2003 (UTC)
I'd go with the USGS time because of the calculations involved in figuring out when and where a quake occurred - they must know time precisely to calculate the location. It's more likely that the BBC and AFP looked at a clock that had stopped after the fact. (I also checked to see if the problem might be something like an accumulation of leap seconds that USGS doesn't include in their reports, but that's not the case.) -- Ke4roh 18:08, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Somebody remove the line "A huge rescue effort is going on" - Hemanshu 01:23, 27 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Did this and tried to merge the different earthquake sections. -- till we *) 15:48, Dec 30, 2003 (UTC)

I moved the section on Philology over from Bam Citadel, as it makes more sense here. Note the somewhat questionable copyright status of that article (still under discussion), so this imported section may require rewriting if the donor article turns out to be a problem. -- Finlay McWalter 14:24, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)


On the quake, AP is reporting "more than 30,000 people killed", and this page is reporting "as many as 50,000 people killed". That's a wide range. What's a source for the 50,000? -- Ke4roh 18:11, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)

No one knows for sure, of course, and probably never will. On Dec 30th the Iranian govt said it had buried 28,000 people, and estimated the total at 50,000 [1]. We probably won't get a more accurate statistic for several months, if at all. -- Finlay McWalter 18:24, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)
This page [2] says the Iranian government has now (mid Jan) recovered 41,000 and estimates total at over 45,000. Accordingly, I changed the article from 50,000 to 45,000. -- Finlay McWalter 19:30, 16 Jan 2004 (UTC)

A minor thing: would "Surat-ol 'Ard" be a better transcription of the Arabic, and "Face of the Earth" a better English translation?

Also, one thing that struck me about the Bam earthquake was that in Nov? 1978, the similarly ancient? city of Tabas, also in the midst of the Dasht-e-Kavir, was completely obliterated by an earthquake. I think about 20,000 people died. Something might be added about that as a link?

And then, for the whole miserable picture, someone with geophysical knowledge might add something about the tectonic plates converging in the area (Arabian and Eurasian plates), the amount of plate movement per year (quite considerable), the inevitabity of further large-magnitude earthquakes.


I'm curious as to why there aren't any details about this event in comparion to other articles, afterall, this one WAS quite large and devastating as I recall.

Contents

[edit] Arge Bam - The Bam Citadel - Movie Documentary

Outside the crenellated walls, like most medieval fortresses, there is a wide moat and the area within the walls is over 200,000sq. meters, the outer walls are 8 meters high and five meters thick (at the base ) and the complex consists of five main parts: 1. The gatehouse, the bazaar the living quarter of the general populace, the mosque and little workshops. 2. The stables and houses of stablemen attending the horses, mules etc. 3. An artillery yard within a quadrangular double story building and a water well. 4. Living mansions, slightly superior to the earlier houses, presumably accommodating the trusted military and civil staff of the ruler and the main prison of the citadel . 5. Residence and headquarter of the ruler, known as chahar fasl (four seasons), hammam, a deep well and a watch tower.

As one enters the gatehouse at the south, one walks up a slightly sloped stone paved pathway through the old bazaar, from where a maze of twisting lanes lead to the remains of dwelling places, mosque, carvanserai and military barracks.One can proceed farther up steep and narrow stairways to the pinnacle of the fortress and eventually reach the strongly fortified headquarter of the ruler.

From the vantage position in the highest watchtower within the rulers precinct one can enjoy a panoramic view of the evergreen palm and citrus groves of Bam as well as the entire complex. One could have imagined that once upon a time there has been thriving hustle and jostle of people in the bazaar, toing and froing in the public lanes, prostration of worshippers in the mosque, the stampede of the cavalry, the ever present multifarious display of man's greed and folly in the bazaar, dismounting of merchandise in the carvanserai, rapturous wooing of the young and the ever - vigilant guards walking up and down the raised platforms, behind the all but impregnable walls of Arg bam.

On December 26, 2003, the Citadel was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake, along with much of the rest of Bam and its environs. 50,000 people died. A few days after the earthquake, UNESCO announced that the Citadel would be rebuilt. Hereby we dedicate the movie documentary of Arge Bam to you. The recnet tragic earthquake in Bam-Iran destroyed the ancient structure of Arge Bam This video shows the glory of this amazing structure before its destruction.

[http://www.iraninfo.dk/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,75/Itemid,84/ Arge Bam - The Bam Citadel - Movie Documentary ] Runtime: 35 minutes Type: Documentary / cultural

[edit] no Prominence?

I've seen in a reportage after the first earthquake the crown prince of the city. So this city has in the same wise like Birjand and Ghaenat and the center of the Kurds an own Shah - an prince. Unfortunately I don't know the name. Furthermore who is the mayor, ruling Mullah, famouse personalities(Scientists, Stars, Politicians ...)? Such names are an enormous marketing for the city and create an identity of the people with the city!Menu2a 08:16, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Israeli offer?

I'm pretty sure Israel didn't offer to provide aid, it's just that the Iranian officials said they'll accept aid from anyone EXCEPT Israel. I remember this pretty well from the time of the incident itself, a little research may support it.

[edit] cleanup

I've just tried a minor cleanup - a lot of stuff that was in this article either doesn't belong in this article or doesn't belong in an encyclopaedia at all - several figures didn't add up and, especially regarding the earthquake, there was a lot of info that should be in a news story instead - if you don't agree, by all means discuss it --Danlibbo 23:17, 14 November 2006 (UTC)