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Up to 40,000 people are feared to have died in the quake which struck
Bam, Iran, on Friday morning, December 26 2003.
An estimated 80% of the city of 100,000 was flattened in the disaster.
The buildings in this area are mostly made from mud bricks, which
could not withstand the stresses.
The earthquake, measuring 6.5 on the Richter
scale, struck the Silk Road city of Bam just before dawn on Friday. The
epicenter was just outside the city, which is 630 miles southeast of the
capital, Teheran.
State media said the earthquake had also damaged towns
and villages around Bam.
It struck at 5:28am local time (01:58 GMT), while most people
were still sleeping.
The quake leveled Bam's medieval fortress, a massive complex of towers and
domes, made of mud brick, that overlooks a walled old city and attracts
thousands of tourists each year.
The GCP data show no trend focused on the time of the quake
or the main aftershock,
though there is a strong increment beginning about three hours after the
main tremblor. Chisquare is 28887 on 28800 df, with p = 0.357.
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