Dozens killed in earthquake
2008-10-06 12:02
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Bishek - At least 70 people were killed by a strong earthquake that hit Kyrgyzstan close to the border with China, emergency officials in the former Soviet republic said on Monday, updating the toll.
"According to the latest figures, 70 people died in the south, more than 80 need urgent hospitalisation and 128 houses were destroyed," Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Turatbek Dzhunuchaliyev said in a press conference.
Officials previously estimated 65 people had been killed.
The quake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck in the isolated Alaisky district of southern Kyrgyzstan late on Sunday evening.
Destruction was concentrated in Nura, a village of 950 residents near the Chinese border.
- AFP