TEHRAN – If the fault line in the southwest of Iran becomes active, a massive earthquake will rock the country, a prominent researcher has said.

The tectonic activities of the sub-continent of India have created the fault line in the southwest of the country, and if this fault line became active an 8 Richter Scale earthquake would be inevitable, said Bahram Akasheh.
Akasheh, a leading geophysics professor, made the remarks at a conference on the challenges facing the mega city of Tehran on Tuesday.
Scientific studies have shown that the southern foothill of Alborz mountain range, where the mega city of Tehran is located, is also earthquake-prone, he stated.
Akasheh pointed out that southern and northern areas of the country are subject to severe geological activities, adding that violent earthquakes have shaken these areas throughout the history.
So far scientific efforts for predicting the time of an earthquake have been unsuccessful, the professor added. The severity of an earthquake is determined by the measurement of the shift of horizontal and vertical seismic waves.
In case of an earthquake the horizontal seismic wave precedes the vertical ones by just a few seconds, making prediction possible within seconds of the occurrence of an earthquake, and therefore providing time for nuclear plants, reactors and other sensitive facilities to be shut down, he explained.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Akasheh highlighted the importance of consolidating nuclear facilities against earthquakes, saying otherwise the consequences would be catastrophic.
Photo: A view of Tehran from Milad Tower