cities to damaging earthquakes. The risk posed by poor engineering is of significant concern to the populace and an impediment to economic development. The 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake, with at least 42,000 fatalities, cost Iran roughly 7.2 percent of its Gross National Product (GNP) for that year, and wiped out two years of economic growth. Geological setting Iran lies within the complex zone of collision between the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian Plate; near Qeshm the rate of convergence is about 25 millimeters annually. Part of this convergence is accommodated by crustal shortening and thickening within the Zagros fold and thrust belt, with the remainder occurring to the north of the Iranian Plateau. The most active part of the Zagros is the Simply Folded Belt, which is characterised by large folds formed above a layer of late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian Hormuz salt, which locally reaches the surface in the crests of some anticlines as salt diapirs. The sequence of sedimentary rocks above the salt layer comprises a basal Cambrian conglomerate beneath a thick sequence of limestones of Palaeozoic to late Cretaceous age, known together as the "Competent Group" owing to their relatively high mechanical strength, overlain by a sequence of weaker marls and interbedded limestones of latest Cretaceous to early Miocene age, topped by Neogene sandstones and conglomerates. There is evidence of intermediate level detachment at some of the weaker layers, which means that folds at different stratigraphic levels may have different locations, orientations, or wavelengths. Measurements of earthquake focal mechanisms and hypocentral depths show that shortening is accommodated by a mixture of high-angle and low-angle reverse faulting, within either the lowest part of the sedimentary cover or in the basement beneath the Hormuz salt. The island of Qeshm is elongated WSW–ENE, parallel to the coastline and the regional trend of the main fold axes. Neogene sedimentary rocks outcrop at the surface over the whole island, apart from a diapir of older Hormuz salt that pierces through to the surface at its western end. The sediments are affected by a series of large, mainly anticlinal folds that show a variety of trends in the central part of the island. The axis of the Laft anticline runs mainly NW–SE, while the Salakh anticline trends roughly W–E and the Suza anticline and Ramkan syncline trend SW–NE. The island shows clear evidence of recent uplift in the form of marine terraces, with the