[jennyp]

There's something I don't understand about this earthquake: The city of Bam is supposed to be an ancient city, where the buildings are all constructed of some kind of earth, stone, adobe, or somesuch. But surely this isn't the first 6.5 earthquake that ever hit the area? How did all those ancient buildings stay up for so long?

[vladog]

Straw that broke the camels back?

[Doctor Stochastic]

About 20 years ago, Bam was a small (but pretty) village. Now it seems to have become a city of about 200,000. I wouldn't be surprised at lots of shoddy workmanship under the Islamic Republic. Similar problems were found in Mexico after the big earthquake there. (No rebar even though the specs called for rebar and the papers said that there was rebar.) Bam did have good transportation to it so it should be possible to get some help in.