Strong 5.0 earthquake shakes Kyrgyz capital

A strong earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale shook a sleeping Bishkek on Tuesday morning.

BISHKEK, March 2, 2010 (AFP) - A strong earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale shook a sleeping Bishkek on Tuesday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey, although no casualties were reported.

The quake struck at 7:55 am local time (0155 GMT) about 75 kilometres (46 miles) to the southeast of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, but an AFP correspondent reported heavy shaking in the city center.

"The earthquake was located near the village of Cholpon, 22 kilometers west of the village Kochkorka and 10 kilometers to the south-east of the village Epkin," a spokesman for the country's Emergency Situations Ministry told AFP.

The Institute for Seismology in the Central Asian state's National Academy of Sciences, which monitors earthquakes and assists emergency services authorities, said that no casualties had yet been reported.

Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked and mountainous nation of five million people, is one of the poorest states of the former Soviet Union and lies in a seismically active region.

Like its neighbours in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has struggled to maintain its aging Soviet-era infrastructure, leading to concerns across the region that a major earthquake could cause considerable damage and loss of life.

In 2008, an earthquake in the Kyrgyz village of Nura near the border with China killed 74 people, at least 41 of them children.