Alarmed by the death count and destruction caused by the Bam earthquake, Iran’s top policymakers are considering moving the capital away from quake-prone Tehran.
‘‘The Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) will shortly discuss a plan to move the capital from Tehran,’’ SNSC chief Hassan Rohani was quoted as saying by Hayat-E No on Monday. A plan to move the capital, which lies on a major seismic fault, was proposed by the SNSC in 1991, ‘‘but due to resistance from certain entities in the establishment, the plan was halted’’.
Even before the earthquake, which killed more
Akasheh has written to President Mohammad Khatami to propose moving the capital to the central city of Isfahan, which was the country’s capital in the late 16th century under Shah Abbas the Great.
The Aftab-E Yazd reported Health Ministry estimates that a quake measuring 7 on the Richter scale would destroy 90 per cent of Tehran’s hospitals.