Bam City Solid Wastes Management, Before and After the Earthquake of 26 December 2003

In any earthquake, two actions with regard to the earthquake wastes and its management should be taken before and after the earthquake. It should be kept in mind that any prepared previous planning related to earthquake and its solid wastes can reduce extra budgeting and will have economical savings. With regard to our experience in Bam earthquake with all problems and challenges, presentation of basic solutions related to solid wastes management before and after earthquake, can produce a clear guideline in this regard.  Results showed that solid wastes generated before the earthquake was about 120 ton per day and the wastes collection system was home by home. The final disposal site at that period was between Darestan Mountains, 22 kilometers far from the east of Bam transportation was accomplished by both pickups and trucks. According to the results of this study it was found that after the recorded earthquake, about 200 ton solid wastes had been generated daily which were transported to the previous landfill after collection from camps and transferred to established stations. Then, wastes were ignited daily but construction rubbishes were transferred to a valley intended as a disposal site which was located at a distance of 20 km from Bam. Because of no direct supervising, the latter rubbishes were distributed along the road of Bam to Bravat.In this study, quality of generated solid wastes, collection and transportation of them before and after the earthquake have been determined with regard to the data and statistics from municipalities, health centers of the Province as well as observations and interviews around Bam city. It is estimated that in our country, Iran, there is a portion of 6% contribution to formation of all accidents and unfavorable natural disasters of the world and as Iran is on the middle part of the Alp – Himalaya earthquake belt, the most important disaster is believed to be the earthquake. After the terrible earthquake of Manjil, in which more than 20000 people were killed, another deadly earthquake struck in Bam city in Kerman province (South East of Iran in 1990 occurred at 5.22 a.m. 26 December 2003) with the magnitude of 6.5 on the scale of Richter. More than 40000 people were killed destruction of about 85% in this city was reported and almost all brick dwellings especially in the ancient parts of the city were completely destroyed from the economical point of view, the loss was estimated to be 1.5 billion dollars.