Ali Beitollahi, head of the Earthquake Seismology and Risk Assessment section of the Research Center for Roads, Housing and Urban Development, said that Isfahan is the only metropolitan city whose entire area is exposed to land subsidence, and that the population of more than 3.3 million people in this city and its surrounding settlements live within this zone.

Beitollahi, regarding the link between land subsidence and urban collapses, said: “Some officials consider the rupture or deterioration of water and sewage pipes and other underground networks as the cause of sinkholes and urban collapses, but the question is why this amount of rupture in the water and sewage networks occurs in Isfahan.”

The head of the Earthquake Seismology section at the Research Center for Roads, Housing and Urban Development added: “The age of the water pipes in Tehran is much greater than in Isfahan, so the issue is not simply the deterioration of the network. When subsidence occurs over a broad area, all underground networks are also affected and move downward along with the ground.”