The Associated Press
ASHGABAT,
Turkmenistan - A strong earthquake rattled Turkmenistan for two
minutes Wednesday evening, driving terrified residents out of
their homes.
There were
no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.
A spokeswoman
for the Obninsk Seismological Station of Russia's Earth Physics
Institute said the earthquake registered about 7.5 and its epicenter
was near the city of Balkanabat, about 250 miles northwest of
the capital, Ashgabat.
The U.S. Geological
Survey's National Earthquake Information Center put the preliminary
magnitude reading at 7.2. The temblor hit at 10:12 p.m. and lasted
an estimated two minutes.
In Ashgabat,
throngs of worried people went into the streets, fearing aftershocks,
Russian news agencies reported.
The quake
was felt both in Ashgabat and in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan,
on the other side of the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan.
Arif Gasanov,
head of the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences seismological service,
said the quake's strength in Baku was around 4.5. Quakes of that
intensity can cause damage, but Gasanov said there were no reports
of damage or injuries.
The earthquake
also was reported to have been felt in much of southern Russia
and even in the outskirts of Moscow, some 1,200 miles to the north.
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