Earthquake rattles region near Kazakhstan–Russia frontier

An earthquake struck near the Kazakhstan–Russia border on December 9.

According to preliminary data from the Kazakhstan Data Center of the Institute of Geophysical Research, the quake occurred on Russian territory at 15:36 Astana time and registered a magnitude of 5.0, Caliber.Az reports, citing Kazakh media.

The European–Mediterranean Seismological Centre indicated that the epicenter was located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of the Russian village of Aktash.

This incident follows a series of seismic events in the region. On December 6, Kazakh seismologists recorded an earthquake whose tremors were felt in the cities of Taraz and Shymkent with an estimated intensity of 2 points.

Earlier, on December 4, a stronger 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck southern Xinjiang in China. The tremors from that quake were powerful enough to be felt across Almaty, as well as the Almaty, Zhambyl and Zhetysu regions.

By Vafa Guliyeva