The FINANCIAL — According to RIA Novosti, a strong earthquake that hit Tajikistan's mountainous Gorno-Badakhshan province in the country's east on January 2 and left about 20,000 people homeless, has inflicted damage estimated at $1.5 million, local officials said on January 3.
The earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale struck eastern Tajikistan at 7:15 a.m. local time (2:15 GMT) on Saturday, affecting two locations in the province's Vanch district, in Tajikistan's Pamir Mountains.
Officials said that the largest destructions were registered in the Vanch district, located some 400 km (249 miles) southeast of Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe, where the district's hospital, prosecutor's office, recreational center and two schools were destroyed.
The earthquake also struck the villages of Rog and Gishkon, destroying 1,050 mud dwellings that were home to about 20,000 people, officials said.
The earthquake has disrupted telephone communication and electricity supply in the area. Rock falls and mudslides caused by the quake blocked a road linking the Vanch district with the province's administrative center of Khorog, officials said.
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