Mohammadreza Ebrahimi, Director General of Education in Isfahan province, announced that approximately 150 schools in Isfahan province have been affected by subsidence, and “so far, 42 schools have been completely evacuated.”
According to the state-run Tasnim News Agency, Ebrahimi stated that schools in Isfahan province have also been affected by repeated subsidence incidents.
He added that “several schools in Barkhar and Shahin Shahr counties” have also been evacuated, and schools in some other counties have been evacuated as well.
In another report by the regime’s Etemad newspaper, Mehdi Zare, a seismologist and professor at the Earthquake Research Institute, stated in his latest assessments that approximately 11% of Iran’s total land area is affected by subsidence.
According to the seismologist, this phenomenon affects approximately 39 million residents of Iran living in areas susceptible to this issue.
He added that apart from Gilan province, all other provinces in Iran are dealing with subsidence.
Zare emphasized that in Iran, the extent and rate of subsidence vary significantly across different regions. Reports indicate that nearly 25% of urban areas in Iran are experiencing various degrees of subsidence.
The researcher also explained that about 5% of the country’s total land area is at risk of severe subsidence, while approximately 18.5 million hectares, equivalent to 11% of Iran’s land area, are affected by varying degrees of ground subsidence.
Zare added that this issue is particularly pronounced in provinces such as Tehran and Fars, where the subsidence rate in some areas exceeds 40 centimeters per year.
Previously, Ali Beitollahi, director of the earthquake division at the Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Center, warned of the intensifying subsidence phenomenon, stating that all provinces in Iran face this danger and that “we have only five to ten years from now to save our cities and villages.”
Masoumeh Amigh-Pei, head of the precise leveling and radar interferometry department at Iran’s National Mapping Organization, mentioned in June that a comprehensive subsidence database had been developed, revealing that subsidence has reached 16 major cities in Iran, with 800 cities located in subsidence-prone areas.
According to some critical experts, misguided policies, lack of proper planning, and mismanagement by Iran’s regime in the water sector are key factors contributing to land subsidence and environmental crises in Iran.
