DUSHANBE, December 8, 2015, Asia-Plus /Avaz Yuldoshev/ — A December 7 earthquake death toll has risen to two as the Committee on Emergency Situations and Civil Defense has reported one more fatal case.
Orif Nozimov, a spokesman for CES, says one police officer was killed and three others were injured on December 7 as a huge rock fell on their car. The incident took place on the 70 the kilometer of the road from Rushan, the administrative center of Rushan district, to Bartang, the spokesman said
Thus, the quake death toll rose to two and the number of injured people rose to 13.
“More than 500 residential buildings have been damaged by the quake in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO),” said Nozimov, “The most hit area is the Bartang Valley in Rushan district.”
A special commission has been set up to assess the actual damage caused by the earthquake to the region. The commission is led by Deputy Prime Minister, Azim Ibrohim.
We will recall that the CES spokesman said Tuesday morning that one person was killed and at least ten others were injured by a strong earthquake that hit the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) on December 7.
“Numerous rockfalls were caused by the quake and resident of the city of Norak Joni Ghaniyev died after a huge rock fell on his truck on the 462nd kilometer of the Dushanbe-Khorog highway,” Orif Nozimov, a spokesman for the Committee on Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (CES), told Asia-Plus Tuesday morning.
The earthquake measuring 7.2 on a 12-point scale hit a sparsely populated area in the Gorno Badakhshan on December 7 at 12:50.
The Geophysics Service of Tajikistan’s Academy of Sciences says the epicenter was 93 kilometers west of the settlement of Murgab, the administrative center of GBAO’s Murgab district, 138 kilometers northeast of Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region and 357 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe.
The location of the earthquake was reportedly close (only 22 kilometers) to Lake Sarez, which was formed in February 1911 when a nearby M 7.3 earthquake dammed the Murgab River.
A tremor measuring 3.0-4.0 on the 12-point scale could be felt in Dushanbe as well, according to the Geophysics Service.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Geological Survey said the December 7 earthquake was measured at a magnitude of 7.2, adding that the epicenter was 345 kilometers east of Tajikistan”s capital, Dushanbe. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake was felt as far away as the Indian capital, New Delhi, as well as in Afghanistan and in Pakistan.
