DUSHANBE, December 15, 2015, Asia-Plus — More than 500 quake-affected people have been evacuated from the Bartang Valley in the Rushan district of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) so far.
“During the period from December 11 to December 14, helicopters of the Ministry of Defense and Tajik Air (Tajik national air carrier) evacuated more than 500 quake-affected people from the Bartang Valley,” Ms. Niloufar Aslamshoyeva, a spokeswoman for the GBAO regional administration, told Asia-Plus today morning.
All of them have been placed in schools, residential buildings and clubs in the Rushan district. “They are provided with basic food products and warm clothes,” Aslamshoyeva said.
“The road connecting the administrative center of the Rushan district and Bartang that was blocked in some places by a serious of rockfalls caused by the earthquake is expected to be reopened by evening today,” she noted.
According to her, 50 hectares have been allotted to the earth-affected residents of Bartang for housing in the Basid jamoat of Rushan. Construction of new residential buildings for the quake-affected people will start next spring.
The earthquake measuring 7.2 on Richter scale hit a sparsely populated area in the Gorno Badakhshan on December 7 at 12:50. The Bartang Valley was the most his area
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 a 12-point scale could be felt in Dushanbe as well, according to the Geophysics Service.
The Committee on Emergency Situation and Civil Defense (CES) says two people were killed and at least 13 others were injured by the December 7 earthquake.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the December 7 earthquake epicenter was 345 kilometers east of Dushanbe and it was felt as far away as the Indian capital, New Delhi, as well as in Afghanistan and in Pakistan.
According to official data, 237 residential buildings have been destroyed completely and 588 residential buildings have been damaged partially in Gorno Badakhshan. In the Rushan district alone, 214 residential buildings have been destroyed completely and 205 other houses have been damaged partially.
