Translated material
Caucasian shake-up
The earthquake in Chechnya killed 12 people
At least 12 people were killed and more than a hundred were injured as a result of a strong earthquake that swept across the North Caucasus on Saturday. Oscillations of the earth's crust were felt in North Ossetia, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Stavropol Territory, South Ossetia and Georgia. The main blow of the disaster fell on Chechnya. Tremors with an amplitude of more than 5 points on the Richter scale destroyed hundreds of residential buildings and buildings there, dozens of schools and hospitals were damaged, and kilometers of roads were destroyed.Restoration work in the republic began yesterday morning. Rescuers from Moscow and neighboring regions arrived to help local units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. By the middle of Sunday afternoon, all the rubble had been cleared and communications and electricity had been restored in all major settlements of Chechnya.
As reported by the geophysical service of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the source of the earthquake was at a depth of 10-12 km from the surface of the earth in Chechnya, approximately 100-150 km from the administrative border with Dagestan and 15 km north of Gudermes. Its magnitude was 5.6 on the Richter scale with a maximum value of 10.
According to seismologists, two powerful tremors were initially recorded with an interval of 16 minutes - at 13.06 and 13.22. The vibrations of the earth's crust they caused, although not as strong as in Chechnya, were felt almost throughout the North Caucasus - in North Ossetia, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Stavropol Territory, South Ossetia and Georgia.
Eyewitnesses who were close to the epicenter of the earthquake spoke of such sudden shifts and tremors that dishes from the tables at that moment (it was just lunch time) simply flew across the rooms, and the contents of the pots splashed out onto the walls. After the first impacts of the disaster, there was a pause; later, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, another series of less powerful tremors followed, lasting until three o’clock on Sunday morning.
In total, the instruments recorded 25 vibrations of the earth's crust. Their magnitude became smaller each time, and experts said that the earthquake tends to self-extinguish.
The maximum damage from the earthquake occurred in Chechnya. Here, 12 people, including five children, were killed as a result of building collapses. Another 117 people were injured, the condition of 26 of them was assessed by doctors as serious. The largest number of victims occurred in the Gudermes region of Chechnya. More than 60 victims were taken to the city hospital of Gudermes itself.
As Timur Taisumov, a representative of the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, said, in almost all regions of Chechnya, houses were destroyed to one degree or another. In total, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, 317 buildings were damaged, of which 303 were private houses. The most significant destruction was recorded in the Kurchaloevsky district, in the villages of Bochi-Yurt, Kurchaloy and Mayrtup. In Mayrtup, 90% of residential buildings were destroyed. There is also partial destruction in the Shali district - in the village of Avtury the district hospital was destroyed, including the therapeutic, gynecological and children's departments. Serious destruction in the Gudermes region and Gudermes itself. In the Nozhai-Yurtovsky, Vedensky, Shatoysky, Sharoysky, Itum-Kalinsky districts of the republic, roads were seriously damaged. Some areas were completely littered with stones and soil that had fallen from the mountain slopes; in some places the rubble reached several hundred meters in length. According to preliminary data, the total volume of soil found on the roadway is estimated at approximately 1 million cubic meters. Argun and Grozny were also affected by the earthquake.
The mayor of Grozny, Muslim Khuchiev, on Saturday evening at a special meeting said that about 50 residential high-rise buildings in the city were damaged, the buildings of city hospitals No. 3, 5, 7, 9, the Mother and Child Home, maternity hospital No. 2, the Children's Clinical Hospital, and a clinic were damaged. No. 2 and schools No. 10, 11, 37, 49, 144. Also, according to the mayor, serious damage was caused to communication lines. About a hundred water pipe breaks and several accidents on gas pipelines and power lines have been recorded in the city.
Restoration work in Chechnya began yesterday morning. Yesterday, the Tsentrospas and Leader EMERCOM detachments from Moscow, as well as rescuers from Dagestan, North Ossetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria, arrived in Chechnya yesterday to provide assistance to the victims.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Chechnya noted that there was no particular need for so many rescuers, since all the rubble under which people could have remained was immediately examined. However, the very presence of rescuers has moral and psychological significance. Despite the fact that experts do not predict new serious tremors in the near future, many local residents are still hesitant to return to their homes, and the presence of rescuers calms them down a little.