DUSHANBE, January 5, 2010, Asia-Plus — According to the preliminary estimates, 1,019 residential building were damaged by a January 2 earthquake in the Vanj district in Gorno Badakhshan, 98 of them were destroyed completely, according to the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES).
The quake left 582 people homeless in Vanj, the source at a CES said, adding that the quake also damaged 30 administrative buildings, including schools and hospitals, as well as 3.2 kilometers of roads and 2.3 kilometers of power transmission lines.
“The most hit areas were the administrative center of the district and the nearby villages of Uskrogh, Punichuguni and Payshanbeobod,” said the source, “An actual damage caused by the disaster to the district has not yet been determined. People that were left homeless are currently living with their relatives.”
In the meantime, a session of the Rapid Emergency Assessment and Coordination Team (REACT), presided over by the first deputy head of the CES, Mahmadullo Halimov, took place in Dushanbe on January 4. Representatives of more than 40 international organizations and NGOs attended the meeting and they expressed readiness to provide assistance to the quake-hit population of Vanj.
REACT is the Disaster Management Partnership in Tajikistan. It was established in 2001 to promote the sharing of information, logistics and other resources between partners active in the disaster management sector, including the Committee of Emergency Situations and the Government of Tajikistan. The group that involves over 50 state, local and international organizations and entities meets regularly to coordinate and share experiences on issues related to various areas of disaster management, including preparedness, response, mitigation and capacity building activities with national bodies. During emergency situations the partnership works closely together, coordinating response and assistance.
We will recall that quite a strong quake jolted the Vanj district in Gorno Badakhshan on January 2, at 7:15 a.m. According to the Dushanbe seismological station, an epicenter of the quake was 230 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe and 15 kilometers of the administrative center of the Vanj district. In the epicenter, the earthquake’s magnitude was 5.0. A 4.0 magnitude tremor could be felt in Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan and a 3.0 magnitude tremor could be felt in the Lake Sarez area. The tremor measuring 2.0 on a 12-point scale could be felt in Dushanbe as well. There were no casualties as residents left their houses when they felt the first tremors.
