Earthquake kills at least 72 in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck the mountains of Central Asia, destroying a village in Kyrgyzstan and killing at least 72 people, emergency officials said Monday.

The 6.6-magnitude quake near the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan hit the remote village of Nura hard, bringing down dozens of buildings and injuring more than 100 people in addition to the confirmed deaths, Emergency Situations Minister Kamchybek Tashiyev said.

"What we've seen is terrible, the village of Nura is completely destroyed — 100 percent," Tashiyev said. "There are many injured and we've counted 60 dead so far, all of them local residents."

Later Monday, Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova said the death toll was 72.




Magnitude 6.3 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 08:30:45 UTC
Magnitude 5.1 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 08:45:07 UTC
Magnitude 5.4 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 12:10:33 UTC

30 die after 2 strong earthquakes hit Tibet

BEIJING (AP) — A pair of strong earthquakes jolted the capital of Tibet and surrounding areas Monday, killing more than 30 people and causing hundreds of houses to collapse, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Rescuers rushed to the scene to try to save an unknown number of people buried under rubble.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the first quake measured magnitude 6.6 and struck at 4:30 p.m. (0830 GMT) 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Lhasa, more than 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) away from Beijing.

The second temblor measuring magnitude 5.1 hit about 15 minutes later, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of the Tibetan capital, it said.

Thirty people died and hundreds of houses collapsed in Gedar township near the epicenter in Dangxiong County, and traffic and telecommunications were cut off. An unknown number of people were still trapped under rubble, and soldiers and rescue workers were hurriedly dispatched to the site, Xinhua said.

Deaths were also reported in a neighboring county, the report said, but no figures were available. The Lhasa airport and the Qinghai-Tibet railway — which stretches from western Qinghai province to Tibet — continued to operate, Xinhua said.


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