Major quake hits southern Kyrgyzstan

Posted 1h 24m ago

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — A powerful earthquake measuring 6.2 struck a remote location in southern Kyrgyzstan on the border with Uzbekistan early Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

No casualties or serious damage were immediately reported from the temblor, which hit at about 1:35 a.m. local time in an area some 22 miles away from the Uzbek city of Ferghana, which has a population of more than 200,000.

In Andijan, the next largest city in Uzbekistan's Ferghana Valley, roughly 60 miles from the epicenter, residents told The Associated Press that many people had left their homes in panic and were standing in the streets.

One 40-year-old woman said the quake appeared to last several minutes.

"There was a really strange and weird sound," she said on condition of anonymity.

She said there were no immediate signs of damage to buildings, but that city dwellers have taken provisions and are spending the night on the streets.

A Russian news agency reported people feeling the quake as far away as the capital, Tajikistan, Dushanbe, at least 185 miles southwest of the epicenter.

According to unverified online testimonies on the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, the temblor also was felt to the north in the town of Talas in Kazakhstan, 125 miles from the epicenter.

"My parents ran into my room and got me and my 9-month-old son up. The floor was shaking and the furniture was trembling. We all rushed to the entrance door and stood under the door frame for 5 minutes, being afraid of after-shocks," a resident in Talas wrote.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011 ... uake_n.htm