An earthquake struck in the Soviet Republic of Tadzhikistan at 5 A.M. local time today. It measured 5.4 on the Richter Scale. The quake unleashed a 50-foot wall of dirt and sodden mud that buried two small towns. The center of the quake was located about 25 miles southwest of Dushanbe, the capital of the republic. The hospital was evacuated of mothers and newborns before the wall of mud arrived and there were no victims, he said. It is estimated that 1,000 are dead; most of them peasants who were buried beneath mud as they slept. This is the second quake to hit the Soviet Union in less than two months. A third tremor occurred today near the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where it registered 5.9 magnitude.
An earthquake struck in the Soviet Republic of Tadzhikistan at 5 A.M. local time today. It measured 5.4 on the Richter Scale. The quake unleashed a 50-foot wall of dirt and sodden mud that buried two small towns. The center of the quake was located about 25 miles southwest of Dushanbe, the capital of the republic. It is estimated that 1,000 are dead; most of them peasants who were buried beneath mud as they slept. This is the second quake to hit the Soviet Union in less than two months. A third tremor occurred today near the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where it registered 5.9 magnitude.