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Production of coal on coalmines in southern Siberia stopped due to quake

The earthquake had a magnitude of 4.3 points

KEMEROVO, June 19 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s federal watchdog agency for technological supervision, Roztechnadzor has suspended production of coal and blasting works on coalmines and opencast mines in the Kuzbass coalfields in southern Siberia, the press service of the Kemerovo region administration said Wednesday.

At the time of reporting, urgent inspections of the technical condition of buildings and installations were held, and experts were always examining production equipment and infrastructures.

Regional authorities and the Ministry for Emergency Situation and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ issued alerts to the population, asking it to display particular vigilance and to remember about safety precautions during quakes.

Siberian Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences said earlier in the day an earthquake measuring 5.6 points on the open-ended Richter scale occurred at 03:03 Moscow Standard Time /GMT + 3 hrs/ in the central part of the Kemerovo region.

Its epicenter was located 3 km west off the township of Starobochaty and the seismic focus was identified at a depth of 9.8 km.

EMERCOM said, on its part, that the quake had a magnitude of 4.3 points.

New earth tremors were registered at 05:10 but they had a smaller magnitude, which varied from 2.4 points to 3.3 points.

Early information from the region indicated the absence of either victims or destructions. The regional authorities set up a hotline to answer the concerns of people worrying over the tectonic cataclysms.