With the London Olympics coming to an end and Rio de Janeiro now four years away from its debut as the first South American city to host the Olympics, the report explored the possibility of a majority Muslim nation hosting the popular sports event for the first time in Olympics history. Never before has an Olympics been held in a majority Muslim nation.

Kasim Randeree, a researcher at the internationally renowned Said Business School, said in a study that Istanbul, which has lost four previous bids, tops the list.

“From the perspective of the broader international community, engagement with the Muslim world could not be more necessary or timely … and sport has historically been demonstrated as an effective tool in achieving similar goals,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Randeree, as saying.

“It is potentially in their long-term geopolitical and socio-economic interests for a [Muslim] nation to host the Olympics. I think Istanbul rates highly because of Turkey’s history of Olympic participation,” he added.

Randeree claimed that fierce summer temperatures would work against the Gulf cities, and even though the oil-rich states could climate-proof venues, signature Olympic events such as the marathon would still be negatively affected.

Earlier this year, Doha, capital of the Gulf state of Qatar, and Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, were cut from the list of cities bidding to host the 2020 Olympic Games after failing to make the final list for the 2016 Games.

Even though Qatar had the financial means to carry off the 2020 bid, it could not convince the IOC to take a chance on holding the Summer Games in October. Apart from the temperature problem was the prospect of low television ratings due to potential conflicts with television and other sports events going on during that time of year.

Gholamreza Masoumi, the country’s head of emergency services said that the injured were being taken to Tabriz, the biggest city in the region, and Ardebil, a neighouring province.

The quakes measured 6.2 and 6.0 on themagnitude scale, according to Tehran University’s Seismological Centre while the US Geological Survey, ranked them as stronger than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.

Tehran University’s Seismological Centre said the first earthquake hit at 4:53pm local time (12:23 GMT), with an epicentre just 60km from Tabriz, close to the town of Ahar, and a depth of 10km. The second – a big aftershock – hit 11 minutes later from nearly the same spot. A series of at least 10 smaller aftershocks rating 4.7 or below rapidly followed, according to Reuters. 

The disaster zone was located around 90 kilometres from the borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan, and around 190 kilometres from the border with Turkey, state TV said.

Authorities feared the death toll could rise as rescuers were still trying to reach people trapped under rubble.

According to local officials, 4 villages have been destroyed completely, while 60 others have sustained damage from 50 to 80 percent only in Ahar region, Fars news agency said.

According to the report of Presidential Office website, the cabinet members in the message expressed their deep sorrow over the incident and expressed sympathy with victims’ families.

The government called on all natural disaster headquarters and responsible bodies to mobilize all their possibilities and releif equipment and provide quake-stricken areas with all kinds of necessary assistance.