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Turkmenistan mourns victims of Ashgabat earthquake 1948

Under ruins of houses in the capital city and neighbouring villages died 176,000 – 80 percent of the population there

ASHGABAT, October 6 (Itar-Tass) —— Turkmenistan mourns on Saturday victims of a devastating earthquake in Ashgabat in 1948. At night of October 6, under ruins of houses in the capital city and neighbouring villages died 176,000 – 80 percent of the population there. The magnitude in some regions reached 10.

The 6th of October is the Day of Mourning Victims of the Ashgabat Earthquake. It is a public holiday. The state flags are half-mast. Many companies and families organise a mourning dinner, called saadaka.

In the morning, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, members of the government and representatives of civil organisations laid wreaths to the central monument to the victims. The monument is in a form of a huge bronze bull, which keeps the globe on its horns. It was erected on the 50th anniversary of the earthquake near the presidential palace. Another monument will appear in a new administrative and cultural centre of Ashgabat, which is being built in foothills of Kopetdag.