Earthquakes in Tehran

Tehran faces a very high earthquake risk, ranking among the most dangerously exposed capital cities in the world. The metropolis lies at the foot of the Alborz mountains within the actively deforming zone where the Arabian plate pushes into Eurasia. Several major active faults, including the North Tehran, Mosha and Rey faults, run directly beneath or immediately alongside the city of more than nine million people, making a strong, shallow, densely-populated-area earthquake a matter of when rather than if.

The region has a long and severe history of destructive quakes, with historical earthquakes such as the events of 855, 958 and 1830 having devastated Rey and the Tehran area in past centuries. Seismologists note that the faults beneath the capital have not produced a major rupture in a very long time, meaning enormous strain may have accumulated. Combined with dense, aging construction and a huge population, this has led experts and Iranian authorities repeatedly to warn that a large Tehran earthquake could cause catastrophic loss of life.