Tajikistan quake ruins 30 homes, school

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake has destroyed at least 30 homes and a school in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan but has not caused any deaths or injuries, emergency officials say.

The tremor took place in the remote Rasht region of the country, nearly 200 km east of the capital, Dushanbe, at about 1500 GMT on Friday, said the spokesman for Tajikistan’s State Emergencies Committee on Saturday.

A complete estimate of possible damage caused by the quake is still being worked out by the committee’s teams on the ground, according to the spokesman.

The relatively minor tremor came just a week after a stronger earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale struck neighboring Kyrgyzstan close to the border with Tajikistan, according to the Kyrgyz Emergency Services Ministry, which said that it did not cause any damages or casualties.

The mountainous and poverty-stricken Tajikistan is prone to regular natural disasters, including earthquakes and landslides.

SS