Ali Beitollahi, director of the earthquake and risk management division at Iran’s Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Center, warned about the increasing severity of land subsidence, stating that all provinces in the country are facing this threat and “we only have 5 to 10 years to save our cities and villages, starting now.”
Beitollahi told Etemad newspaper that subsidence is also occurring in unexpected areas, such as Golestan province, eastern Mazandaran province, and the provinces of Ardabil, East Azerbaijan, and West Azerbaijan, which have better rainfall compared to the central plateau.
According to this Ministry of Roads official, “if there is serious determination” to confront the threat of subsidence, “this threat is controllable.”
Beitollahi emphasized that the provinces of Khorasan Razavi, Tehran, Fars, Kerman, and Isfahan have reached a “critical” state in terms of subsidence rates, and in 11 provinces, the annual subsidence rate exceeds 10 centimeters.
The official highlighted that if this trend continues, “in 30 years, we will face a three-meter drop in land level, which would be catastrophic.”
Previously, the Deputy Minister of Energy for Water and Wastewater had reported a subsidence crisis in 359 plains across the country, revealing that 28% of agricultural wells, amounting to 117,000 wells, were drilled in areas where subsidence rates exceed 10 centimeters.
In December 2023, a faculty member of the Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Center reported observing subsidence effects along the Tehran-Mashhad railway, stating that “very dangerous” signs of subsidence were clearly visible near Varamin and Nishapur.
On December 4, 2023, the Parliament Research Center announced that “more than 35% of the country’s population is at risk of land subsidence.”
The construction of numerous dams without considering environmental consequences and excessive extraction of underground water have been identified as major causes of subsidence in Iran.
Despite the depletion of underground water resources and the threat to life in Iran’s environment, the Iranian regime still insists on goals like self-sufficiency in agricultural production and population growth.
The Iranian regime has yet to take any measures to control land subsidence.
