Threat from across straits is real… if it is a quake

Every time there is an earthquake in Iran the tremors are felt in the UAE.

That is not a metaphor for political equations or even international relations. It’s a geological fact.

At least as far as the Munich Re Globe of Natural Hazards report, of which Emirates 24|7 has a copy, goes.

The report has put the UAE in a “very strong” zone (MM VII) for earthquake risk. While there has never been a serious earthquake in the country, every now and then, tremors do remind us that beneath the surface, all is not well.

Those tremors, for the most part, stem from the country’s proximity – just the Arabian Gulf in between – to Iran.

In fact, the report has categorised Iran as Zone 4 – MM IX, which it explains as ‘devastating’.

The UAE’s National Seismic Network has over the past one year recorded several tremors in the UAE, none of which originated here. Several, however, did start in Iran.

On July 31, Iranian media reported two strong earthquakes that shook different parts of Iran, injuring more than 200 people and damaging hundreds of homes.

Those quakes measured 5.7 on the Richter scale and tremors were reported in the UAE.

By comparison, the earthquake that devastated Chile measured 8.8 on the Richter.

So going by the quake history of the Middle East, as long as tectonic movement across the Arabian Gulf stays below 6 on the Richter, tremors are all we will have to deal with.

Munich Re has been putting out this report since 1978, but this is the first time they have separately looked at the Middle East and North Africa region for earthquakes, tropical cyclones and volcanoes.

In fact, besides the UAE the report also cites a few spots along Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast and Yemen as high risk areas for earthquakes. Oman faces a serious threat of cyclones.
 

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