June 20, 1990 Earthquake of Northern Iran: An Overview

On the day of June 20, 1990 at 21:00 GMT (June 21, 1990, at 00:30 local time) a destructive earthquake of magnitude 7.6 shook Northern provinces of Iran. It caused widespread geotechnical and structural damages covering an approximate area of 10,000 sq. km resulting in 37,000 life losses, 100,000 injuries, and 100,000 building failures leaving more than 400,000 people homeless. This paper summarizes the post-earthquake investigations and discusses the general engineering aspects of the June 20, 1990 seismological, geotechnical, and structural aspects of the event. Lessons learned are also discussed.