East Siberia Quake to Trigger New Series of Tremors

The 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Tyva republic in Russia’s East Siberia on Sunday will trigger a new series of earthquakes in the region, a Russian scientist said.

“Judging from the data received from our stations, this is not the continuation of the Tyva earthquake that occurred in late 2011 with its epicenter at the Academician Obruchev Ridge but signals a new series of earthquakes,” said Viktor Seleznyov, director of the Geophysical Institute at the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The earthquake, the second powerful tremor in East Siberia in the past two months, had its epicenter located 107 km (66 miles) east of the city of Kyzyl near the border with Mongolia, at a depth of 15 km. The earthquake struck at 10:20 a.m. Moscow time (06:20 GMT) with a magnitude of 6 to 7 points in the epicenter.