Tajikistan rocks under 6.1 quake; no causalities

Dushanbe, Jan 24: The year 2011 did not really start on a good note and have been ravaged by natural calamities especially the deadly ones in Australia and Brazil. The latest one comes from eastern Tajikistan when a powerful earthquake struck the mountainous terrain on Monday, Jan 24.

Measuring 6.1 in the Richter scale, the US Geological Survey reported that no immediate casualties have been reported. The epicentre of the tremor is beleieved to be in the city of Karakul. The city shares its border with China, USGS said.

"For the moment we have no information about any victims," said a spokesman from the Tajik emergency situations ministry. "The epicenter was located at 362 kilometers south of Dushanbe, the capital. The magnitude was 6 there and 3 in Dushanbe," an official from the Tajik seismic centre has been quoted as saying.

Residents staying in high-rises felt the tremors. An earlier earthquake in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan in January left nearly 600 people homeless.

Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic is particularly prone to earthquake and shares its border with Afghanistan. 93 percent of its territory is made up of mountains.

OneIndia News