Situation Overview
A 5.7 Mw (Movement Magnitude) (http://www.emsc-csentordEarthquake/earthquake.php?id=266286) earthquake occurred on the night of May 13th, 2012 in the Rasht Valley, central Tajikistan. The earthquake affected the districts of Nurabad, Rasht and Tavildara, killing 1 and directly affecting an estimated 2,531 people - residents of the 113 destroyed and 231 damaged residential buildings. Housing damage information is from the Committee of Emergency Situations (CoES) and is subject to change as further assessments are in progress. The earthquake affected locations are located in a mountainous area of Tajikistan.
President Emomali Rahmon visited Rasht and Tavildara districts on May 16" to observe the impact of the earthquake and deliver instructions on response operations. Assessment and response operations coordination is ongoing by the locally established Commission for Emergency Situations on "Liquidating the Consequences of the Earthquake". Based on the latest information available, this Commission completed the assessment for Tavildaral district on May 21, and proceeded to assess Nurobod district.
Damage to Housing
Table 2 at right provides the preliminary damage to housing as reported by the local Commission on Emergency Situations established in for the earthquake response (data as of May 181h)
The number of destroyed and damaged houses in Rasht is less than in Nurabad and Tavildara. The greatest damage was in the village of Langarak in Rasht, where 8 houses were fully destroyed, caused by a combination of an earthquake and a landslide. Note that at the time of the earthquake the affected locations have been experiencing frequent rainfall and soils are likely saturated.
The style of building construction varies from the district to district and reflects the construction materials available locally. A majority of destroyed houses were adobe or stone masonry construction built in the last 10 to 15 years.
In Rasht and Nurobod, clay is the predominant construction material. Houses are constructed in a traditional way, laying clay blocks on top of each other. This method allows construction of a house in a couple of months if the weather is favorable.
In Tavildara, houses are constructed from stone. This type of construction requires more time and more professional inputs. According to the REACT team observations, many of the damaged or destroyed houses were not build ways which would reduce the impact of earthquakes.