6.2 quake rocks Kyrgyz-Uzbek border region

BISHKEK—An earthquake measuring 6.2 Wednesday rocked the remote border region of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, triggering panic even in cities but there were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said.

The quake hit at 1:35 am (1935 GMT Tuesday) some 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, with the epicenter 42 km southwest of the Uzbek town of Fergana, the US Geological Survey said.

The Kyrgyz emergencies ministry said that the epicenter was 52 km from the main regional town of Batken and just 125 km from Osh, the main city in the south of Kyrgyzstan.

The local administration said 11 villages in the Batken region were without electricity after a transformer was knocked out but there were no reports of casualties even though inhabitants reported damage to their homes.

However the full extent of the damage in the remote Fergana Valley region may only become apparent later when a special team dispatched by the Kyrgyz authorities finishes its work in the area.

“It’s clear that there will be damage, the earthquake was just too strong,” said the head of the seismological institute at the Kyrgyz academy of sciences, Kanat Abdrakhmatov.

Residents of Osh said that that the quake caused panic in the city while tremors were also felt as far away as Bishkek itself.

“We were woken up by a noise and strong jolts which lasted for about 40 seconds. The house began to shake,” said Albek Seitov, a resident of Osh.

“I thought it was a dream, a nightmare. I went out in the street like my neighbors. Everyone is afraid, panicking,” he said.

The quake struck the border region at a depth of just 9.2 kilometers, rocking Fergana, a city of some 200,000 residents just over the border in neighboring Uzbekistan.

“The people were scared and went out onto the streets. It lasted for a few seconds. There are cracks on the ceiling and the paint has started to fall off in my home,” said Abdullah, who did not want to give his family name.

Another Fergana resident, Sukhrob, said the tremors had stopped, but people were frightened of returning home.

“I haven’t seen houses destroyed. But the people are still outside, they’re afraid of going home,” he said.

The Fergana Valley is an area shared uneasily by Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek ethnic groups and the scene of periodic violence and unrest since the 1991 Soviet collapse.