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Second tremor of day shakes Tuva; no casualties, no damage

Quake aftershocks are regularly weaker than the initial tremor. This means the probability of another major shock is minimal

KRASNOYARSK, January 1 (Itar-Tass) —— The second tremor of the day has shaken Tuva. It had a similar intensity, four points Richter scale in the epicenter (120 kilometers northeast of the village of Saryg-Sep in the Kaa-Khem district) and less than two points in populated areas, with the first tremor of Sunday.

There were no reports of casualties or damage, press secretary of the republican emergency situations department Louisa Sevil told Itar-Tass.

The latest tremor occurred at 7:07 p.m. local time (3:07 p.m. Moscow time). The first seismic event of the day measuring four points Richter scale in the epicenter and less than two points in populated areas occurred 70 kilometers northeast of the Saryg-Sep village in the Kaa-Khem district at 11:13 a.m. local time (7:00 a.m. Moscow time). The tremor caused neither casualties nor damage.

The Sunday tremors was the 62nd and the 63rd since the 9.5-point seismic event of December 27. The state of emergency regime is still in effect in the republic. Quake aftershocks are regularly weaker than the initial tremor. This means the probability of another major shock is minimal.

The December 27 quake damaged dozens of buildings to various degrees, and a thorough examination was ordered with the assistance of specialists from the Russian Civil Defense and Emergency Situations Institute.

Tuva is a seismically unsteady region, where quakes may reach eight to nine points Richter scale. In the past 20 years the republic had 218 seismic events, including two identical with the December 27 event that happened in 1991 and 1995. The latest major shock of 9.5 points was the biggest in the entire history of quake monitoring in Tuva.

Moscow and Krasnoyarsk rescuers, who helped clean up the aftereffects of the December quake in Tuva, saw in the New Year at home. “Two Struna mobile systems were used for evaluating the damage of buildings. The evaluation is done, and the rescue group is pulled out,” a source at the Tuva Emergency Situations Ministry told Itar-Tass.

In all, 1,615 people and 740 machines, including 16 aircraft, were involved in the ministry’s operation. These include 52 rescuers from Krasnoyarsk, 42 from the Moscow-based Centrospas unit, twelve specialists from the Noginsk center in the Moscow region and eleven psychologists.