An earthquake occurred on November 27, 2005, at 13:52 IRST (10:22 UTC) on the sparsely populated Qeshm Island off Southern Iran, killing 13 people and devastating 13 villages.

Iranian relief efforts were effective and largely adequate, leading the country to decline offers of support from other nations and UNICEF.

[10] In terms of earthquake protection, Iran was named the "worst offender" in 2004 by Professor Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

[11] The United Nations' Common Country Assessment for Iran states that the greatest damage occurs in rural areas, for which no building code exists.

[13] 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.

[14] 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 sediments are affected by a series of large, mainly anticlinal folds that show a variety of trends in the central part of the island.

[2] No evidence has been found of surface faulting, but a 3-kilometer-long (2 mi) set of bedding-parallel cracks was observed on the northwestern flank of the Ramkan syncline, interpreted as representing probable slip along bedding planes, possibly due to further tightening of this fold.

[20] This depth range strongly suggests that the fault affected the lower part of the sedimentary cover, while not ruling out some basement involvement.

[21] The mismatch between the orientation of the fault planes that caused the earthquake and the observed surface folds suggests that deformation at these two levels is decoupled by the presence of a detachment, possibly within marl layers.

The pattern of uplift observed for this earthquake is also consistent with rupturing within the lower sedimentary sequence, but on a fault with two segments, dipping overall to the southeast.

[27] No major damage occurred directly at the epicenter;[31] residents of Qeshm reported that the shaking smashed windows, leading citizens to evacuate their homes fearing collapse.

[28] A former Portuguese fortress, built by Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque in 1507, sustained heavy damage to its eastern wall but otherwise remained intact.

[37] If the earthquake had occurred during the early morning while residents were asleep, rather than mid-afternoon (1:52 pm local time),[24] it could have been deadlier as housing in the epicentral area consisted chiefly of mud and brick.

[33][nb 3] A dispatch of 101 relief helpers, 40 IRCS staff, and four people from the public relations department at ReliefWeb also assisted survivors.