Damavand Earthquake of 2020 the Mainshock or an Alarm for Disaster for the Capital of Iran

Abstract

On 7 May 2020, the Damavand earthquake with magnitude 5.1 occurred at 55 km east of Tehran city, which has a population of over 15 million people. This earthquake caused a seismic hazard for the capital of Iran. In this study, this earthquake was assessed to understand whether it will cause any seismic disaster. There is a doubt about the dip of the earthquake fault because the hypocenter position, as well as the aftershocks, correspond to the surface outcrop of the Mosha fault. However, according to the declared slope for this fault, the epicenter of the earthquake should be located in a belt parallel to the fault and at a distance of 3 to 10 km. The significant observation of this study is that the Damavand earthquake was produced by the Mosha fault according to the information of the focal mechanism. The slope of the fault in this study was estimated to be 90 degrees. By the findings of this study, the seismic hazard of the city of Tehran was thus investigated. The results exhibit that the city is under seismic risk. Therefore, we can suggest that we should take precautions against a possible devastating earthquake.