Huge Earthquake Rattles Russia's Far East
A major earthquake hit a remote, sparsely populated region of Russia's Far East early Friday, causing unknown damage and at least minor injuries, emergency officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey and Japan's Meteorological Agency estimated the temblor to be about 7.7 magnitude.
The quake hit at around 12:30 p.m. Friday in the Koryak region, nearly 4,350 miles east of Moscow and some 625 miles north of the largest city in the area Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, said Oleg Kotosanov, a duty officer with the regional emergency situations ministry.
A second quake, with a magnitude of 6.1, was registered five hours later, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Kotosanov told The Associated Press by telephone after the first quake that there were reports of damage in some villages of the Pacific region, and that emergency officials were flying by helicopter to several locations.
An official of the Koryak regional emergency situations ministry, Viktor Styopkin, said that there was no telephone communication with the affected region and that reconnaissance helicopters would reach the coastal village of Tilichiki, apparently the hardest hit site, only at about 6:30 p.m. local time.
Some 12,000 people live in the area affected by the quake, the Emergency Situations Ministry said, and 2,028 people live in the coastal village.
Styopkin said that minor injuries such as bruises and abrasions had been reported, and that there was one unconfirmed report that someone had broken a limb. The RIA-Novosti news agency, citing an unnamed local emergencies official, said four people had been injured.
Styopkin said the quake had knocked out telephone service in the region, because the local exchange was located in Tilichiki. The quake also made the village's airfield unusable, he said: one-third of the runway was filled with cracks, and the rest was under water.
Russian news agencies said buildings including a school, nursery school, and hospital had been damaged, along with municipal electric and heating systems. The agencies said some insignificant injuries had been reported.
"It's the largest event in this area since 1900," U.S. Geological Survey spokeswoman A.B. Wade told the AP. "It's a sparsely populated area; up to 2,000 people were exposed to intensive shaking."
By comparison, the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which destroyed more than half of the city's buildings and left between 3,000 and 6,000 people dead, was estimated at a magnitude of between 7.7 and 7.9.
The USGS said the initial quake occurred about 30 miles below the surface of the Earth.
Russia's north Pacific coast sits along a major tectonic plate and is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In 1995, a quake of magnitude 7.5 leveled the town of Neftegorsk in northern Sakhalin Island, killing some 2,000 people.
A major earthquake hit a remote, sparsely populated region of Russia's Far East early Friday, causing unknown damage and at least minor injuries, emergency officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey and Japan's Meteorological Agency estimated the temblor to be about 7.7 magnitude.
The quake hit at around 12:30 p.m. Friday in the Koryak region, nearly 4,350 miles east of Moscow and some 625 miles north of the largest city in the area Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, said Oleg Kotosanov, a duty officer with the regional emergency situations ministry.
A second quake, with a magnitude of 6.1, was registered five hours later, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Kotosanov told The Associated Press by telephone after the first quake that there were reports of damage in some villages of the Pacific region, and that emergency officials were flying by helicopter to several locations.
An official of the Koryak regional emergency situations ministry, Viktor Styopkin, said that there was no telephone communication with the affected region and that reconnaissance helicopters would reach the coastal village of Tilichiki, apparently the hardest hit site, only at about 6:30 p.m. local time.
Some 12,000 people live in the area affected by the quake, the Emergency Situations Ministry said, and 2,028 people live in the coastal village.
Styopkin said that minor injuries such as bruises and abrasions had been reported, and that there was one unconfirmed report that someone had broken a limb. The RIA-Novosti news agency, citing an unnamed local emergencies official, said four people had been injured.
Styopkin said the quake had knocked out telephone service in the region, because the local exchange was located in Tilichiki. The quake also made the village's airfield unusable, he said: one-third of the runway was filled with cracks, and the rest was under water.
Russian news agencies said buildings including a school, nursery school, and hospital had been damaged, along with municipal electric and heating systems. The agencies said some insignificant injuries had been reported.
"It's the largest event in this area since 1900," U.S. Geological Survey spokeswoman A.B. Wade told the AP. "It's a sparsely populated area; up to 2,000 people were exposed to intensive shaking."
By comparison, the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which destroyed more than half of the city's buildings and left between 3,000 and 6,000 people dead, was estimated at a magnitude of between 7.7 and 7.9.
The USGS said the initial quake occurred about 30 miles below the surface of the Earth.
Russia's north Pacific coast sits along a major tectonic plate and is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In 1995, a quake of magnitude 7.5 leveled the town of Neftegorsk in northern Sakhalin Island, killing some 2,000 people.
