On the night of Tuesday, September 22, an earthquake occurred in the Irkutsk region near Lake Baikal.

According to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center, the magnitude of the tremors was 5.3.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located 84 km southwest of Irkutsk.

The regional government, in turn, indicated that the magnitude of the strongest earthquake was 5.9, and the epicenter was 15 km from the village of Kultuk, Slyudyansky district.

According to RIA Novosti with reference to a representative of emergency services, an earthquake with a magnitude of two to six was felt in 11 municipalities of the Irkutsk region in 367 settlements and 25 settlements in the Republic of Buryatia.

“Working groups have been formed tonight, which are conducting a survey of all areas in which the earthquake was felt.

Municipal authorities, together with special forces, need to conduct a survey of life support systems, housing and communal services, energy, socially significant objects.

At the moment, no information has been received about the victims and the destruction, ”said Governor Igor Kobzev of the Irkutsk Region during a meeting of the Emergency Situations Commission.

Based on the assessment of the situation, a high alert mode was introduced.

It is noted that no damage to communal infrastructure and social facilities was found on the territory of the Irkutsk region.

At the same time, an emergency power outage occurred in the Slyudyansky district, more than 1,000 people were left without electricity.

Utilities later restored the electricity supply.

According to a resident of Irkutsk Artur Komarkovsky, there were two waves of the earthquake.

“On the eighth floor, walls swayed, lamps swayed, and I woke up from this ... Every year, thousands of earthquakes occur in the area of ​​the Baikal rift fault, and several times a day.

It is just that some are felt, and the majority are not, ”he said in a conversation with Sputnik radio.

At the same time, it became known that the main energy facilities in the region continued to operate normally after the earthquake. 

  • RIA News

  • © Alexander Kryazhev

According to the press service of the company "EuroSibEnergo-Hydrogeneration", which manages hydroelectric power plants in the region, violations of the operating mode at the Irkutsk, Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power plants were not revealed, the equipment was examined, no comments were found.

Irkutskenergo also indicated that there were no violations of the operating mode and equipment shutdowns at the heating network facilities of the Novo-Irkutsk CHPP.

Working and monitoring groups

In addition, 42 working groups have been formed in the Irkutsk region to inspect residential buildings, primarily five-story panel buildings of the 335 series, built in 1960-1970 as temporary, with a service life of no more than 15 years, and social facilities.

According to TASS, about 250 thousand people live in the houses of the 335th series in the Angara region, and cracks have appeared in many buildings.

It is indicated that 20 billion rubles will be required to resettle the residents of the affected houses.

The survey should be completed by 18:00 local time (13:00 Moscow time).

A group of scientists left for the epicenter of the earthquake in the Slyudyansky district of the Irkutsk region, said Anna Dobrynina, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, scientific secretary of the Institute of the Earth's Crust of the SB RAS.

According to her, they will continue to observe aftershock activity, as well as conduct a survey of the population for a sense of the strength of the tremors.

“One group has already left for the Slyudyansky district to the nearest settlement to the epicenter - the village of Bystraya.

Two more groups are preparing to leave, "RIA Novosti quotes her.

In addition, according to Elena Kobeleva, director of the Baikal branch of the Unified Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a local monitoring network will be deployed at the site of the earthquake - seismic and GPS stations will be installed.

“We are in the Baikal rift zone, there is increased seismicity, this is a standard natural process,” Kobeleva stated in an interview with TASS.

  • © seis-bykl.ru

According to the data of the Baikal branch of the Geophysical Service of Russia, since the beginning of 2020, 88 seismic events have been recorded in the Baikal region, most of which were imperceptible, they could only be detected by instruments.