9:37am UK, Monday October 06, 2008
An earthquake in Kyrgyzstan has killed 58 people, according to media reports.
Kyrgyzstan
Earthquake registered as 6.6 on the Richter scale
Spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, Abdusamat Payazov, said the quake also injured 50 people and destroyed 120 buildings in a town in the Central Asian nation's southern Osh region.
The ministry said the quake occurred late on Sunday and that its epicentre was in neighbouring Tajikistan.
The US Geological Survey said the tremor's magnitude was 6.6.
It said the epicentre of the earthquake was 35 miles east-south-east of Sary-Tash at a depth of 17.2 miles.
The worst of the destruction was in Nura, a village of 950 residents close to Kyrgyzstan's mountainous border with China. At least 128 houses in the high-altitude village crumbled in the quake.
Officials said rescue efforts were being hampered by the remoteness of the village and a lack of communication ties with it.
Mr Payazov warned: "The death toll might be higher," and he said that some of the injuries would be severe.
The government and military were sending more rescue teams and doctors to the village.
Earthquakes are frequent in Central Asia, a region wedged between Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and China.
In 1966, the Uzbek capital Tashkent was flattened by a 7.5 earthquake and hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. A 6.0 magnitude quake rocked Tashkent this August but there was no damage.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Kyrgyzstan-Earthquake-Kills-58-People-According-To-Media-Reports-In-Russia/Article/200810115113823?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15113823_Kyrgyzstan_Earthquake_Kills_58_People_According_To_Media_Reports_In_Russia
An earthquake in Kyrgyzstan has killed 58 people, according to media reports.
Kyrgyzstan
Earthquake registered as 6.6 on the Richter scale
Spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, Abdusamat Payazov, said the quake also injured 50 people and destroyed 120 buildings in a town in the Central Asian nation's southern Osh region.
The ministry said the quake occurred late on Sunday and that its epicentre was in neighbouring Tajikistan.
The US Geological Survey said the tremor's magnitude was 6.6.
It said the epicentre of the earthquake was 35 miles east-south-east of Sary-Tash at a depth of 17.2 miles.
The worst of the destruction was in Nura, a village of 950 residents close to Kyrgyzstan's mountainous border with China. At least 128 houses in the high-altitude village crumbled in the quake.
Officials said rescue efforts were being hampered by the remoteness of the village and a lack of communication ties with it.
Mr Payazov warned: "The death toll might be higher," and he said that some of the injuries would be severe.
The government and military were sending more rescue teams and doctors to the village.
Earthquakes are frequent in Central Asia, a region wedged between Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and China.
In 1966, the Uzbek capital Tashkent was flattened by a 7.5 earthquake and hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. A 6.0 magnitude quake rocked Tashkent this August but there was no damage.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Kyrgyzstan-Earthquake-Kills-58-People-According-To-Media-Reports-In-Russia/Article/200810115113823?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15113823_Kyrgyzstan_Earthquake_Kills_58_People_According_To_Media_Reports_In_Russia
