Earthquake operational headquarters established
By Nigar Orujova
Operational headquarters to respond to the earthquake was established in Azerbaijan.
Given the latest earthquakes recorded in several regions of Azerbaijan, insurance company AzSigorta together with the Emergency Situations Ministry has created operational headquarters.
Strong earthquake hit the Sheki region of the country on September 4. Its strength in the epicenter measured seven on Richter scale, while the adjacent districts of Azerbaijan felt tremors measuring 6, 5, 4 and 3 points. The tremors were felt in a number of regions of the country.
Another earthquake was observed in Oghuz region of the same day. The earthquake’s hypocenter was as a depth of 20 kilometers, and had a magnitude of 3.3, however no tremors were felt.
AzSigorta’s experts traveled to nearby areas affected by the earthquake to assess the damage, the company reported on September 7.
“At the moment, more than 60 applications have been received and they keep coming. Help will be provided to the victims as quickly as possible,” the company said.
The strong earthquake in Sheki formed large cracks on more than 200 homes, Assistant to the Sheki Chief Executive Ziya Veliyev told Trend.
A working group was formed in order to eliminate the effects of the earthquake and investigation is currently underway on site.
Veliyev noted that Chief Executive of Sheki Elkhan Usubov, representatives of the Emergency Situations Ministry and the working group visited the settlements and conducted inspection on September 4.
“Inspection of homes in villages and towns continues. The damage caused to homes are being determined. The earthquake caused large cracks at some homes in villages and towns, but there are no completely destroyed buildings. Also, some schools and kindergartens are now in emergency state,” said Veliyev.
Scientists believe that seismic zones with the potential to produce dangerous force cover the entire country, while the Alpine-Himalayan seismic belt passes directly through Azerbaijan.
Last year was marked with an intensification of seismic processes as well as the most powerful earthquakes that Azerbaijan has seen in the past 15 years.
Six earthquakes measuring over 5.0 on the Richter scale occurred in Azerbaijan in 2014, releasing a tremendous volume of energy.