Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

Acting Director of the ANAS Institute of Oil and Gas academician Fakhraddin Gadirov spoke about the consequences of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, mudflows, floods and other natural disasters if they occur during a pandemic, and what rules must be observed in this case. He said that according to the UN, over the past 20 years, natural disasters have caused the death of about 1.5 million people in the world. According to the scientist, every year the number of natural disasters in the world increases by an average of almost 20 percent.

Fakhraddin Gadirov stressed that if natural disasters occur during a pandemic, more serious consequences can be observed. Therefore, hazardous geological processes, including earthquakes, must be taken into account in the rules of conduct during a pandemic: “From the point of view of seismicity, the territory of Azerbaijan is located in the Alpine-Himalayan seismic belt. In different years, strong earthquakes occurred in Azerbaijan, as a result of which the surface topography of the earth changed, residential buildings collapsed and people died."

The academician noted that in the event of an earthquake during a pandemic, given its duration, unexpectedness, destruction caused by it, people's attempts to avoid the danger of remaining under the rubble, people helping each other and other factors, there will be a forced violation of social distance. This fact indicates that in the first hours of an earthquake it is necessary to give preference to the rules of salvation from it: “In other words, if an earthquake occurs during a pandemic, the rules of protection against it should be a priority.”

Fakhraddin Gadirov also added that during earthquakes the main task is to save the lives of people. After this natural disaster, the spread of new infectious diseases is likely.

“Therefore, carrying out scientific research related to modeling the dynamics of the spread of threats that may arise on the territory of Azerbaijan during a pandemic during natural geological processes (including earthquakes) and preparing new rules of conduct is becoming more urgent,” said academician Fakhraddin Gadirov .

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