Earthquake strikes east

At least three people have been confirmed dead and scores injured after a powerful earthquake struck eastern Tajikistan on Wednesday. While details remain unclear, early indications show the most heavily impacted area to be Rogun, an industrial city of some 9,000 people, 100 km northeast of the Tajik capital Dushanbe. "Initial reports indicate three deaths and 54 injuries, six of them serious," UN field office head for the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), Valentin Gatzinski, told IRIN from Dushanbe on Thursday. Although Rogun was the main focus of the rescue operation, the affected area would also include villages and settlements around the city as well, he explained. "We know that the area must be wider than described, but right now the situation is unclear," he said. Some 52 homes had been destroyed outright by the quake and 580 people were without shelter. "We are particularly concerned about cold temperatures and heavy snowfall which could hamper relief efforts," he noted. Jatzinski confirmed that the head of the country's Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) Mirzo Ziyev, had left Dushanbe to assess the damage. Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov was reportedly directing rescue operations from the capital. The World Data Centre for Seismology in Denver, Colorado said the quake measured 5.3 on the Richter scale, with a depth of 33 km, 85 km north of the city of Kulyab. But an initial report by MES, said the quake, which occurred at 11:46 local time, had a force of 7.0 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre in the mountains, 240 km southeast of the capital. In addition to Rogun, the MES report cited the villages of Talkhak, Tagi Ohba, and Pasi Mohruho as also affected. Rogun is also the site of one of the largest hydroelectric power stations in Central Asia, currently under construction. As for rescue and relief efforts, Gatzinski said as of early Thursday, OCHA had activated its rapid emergency assessment and coordination team (REACT) and had fielded an assessment team to the affected areas, together with representatives from MES and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC). In addition, missions from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the international NGO Focus were on their way now, he said, adding: "As of today, we have not had a further update on damage and casualties, but we are expecting results of the assessment today." Currently there are some 10 trucks of UN food and non-food items ready to leave Dushanbe and the NGO Medecins Sans Frontieries (MSF) has placed its team and contingency stocks in the nearby city of Gharm on standby. IFRC has already dispatched two vehicles of blankets and warm clothes to the area, Gatzinski added. The earthquake came just six days after a weaker quake struck the same region. Beginning in neighbouring Afghanistan, it had a Richter magnitude of 4.0 to 5.0 in Dushanbe, but resulted in no damage or casualties. The Central Asian state of six million people has a history of earthquakes. On Thursday, rescuers were continuing to search through the rubble for victims and a UN assessment was expected later that day.