Great Earthquakes In Diverse places
Strong Earthquake shakes Kyrgyzstan
* From correspondents in Bishkek
* From: AFP
* March 02, 2010 4:28PM
A STRONG earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale shook a sleeping
Bishkek today, according to the United States Geological Survey,
although no casualties were immediately reported.
The quake struck at 7:55 am local time (12.55pm AEDT) about 75
kilometres to the southeast of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, but an AFP
correspondent reported heavy shaking in the city center.
"The earthquake was located near the village of Cholpon, 22 kilometers
west of the village Kochkorka and 10 kilometers to the south-east of
the village Epkin," a spokesman for the country's Emergency Situations
Ministry said.
The Institute for Seismology in the Central Asian state's National
Academy of Sciences, which monitors earthquakes and assists emergency
services authorities, said that no casualties had yet been reported.
Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked and mountainous nation of five million people,
is one of the poorest states of the former Soviet Union and lies in a
seismically active region.
Like its neighbours in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has struggled to
maintain its aging Soviet-era infrastructure, leading to concerns
across the region that a major earthquake could cause considerable
damage and loss of life.
In 2008, an earthquake in the Kyrgyz village of Nura near the border
with China killed 74 people, at least 41 of them children.