Residents of the mining settlement of Maikain in the Pavlodar region felt underground tremors, where a bus with four rescue workers sank into the ground due to the collapse of an old mine in January of last year, reports Tengrinews.kz correspondent.
According to the press service of the regional Emergency Situations Department, the message was relayed to rescuers on January 9 at 09:55.
"Residents reported feeling ground vibrations. During the investigation, the coordinates provided by the Kazakhstan National Seismological Center were checked. It was established that this geolocation is in a steppe area, 15 kilometers from the Maikain settlement. The inspection did not confirm any damage or consequences. It was also determined that blasting operations by LLP 'Maikainzoloto' took place on January 8, and the radius of the danger zone could not have led to such consequences," – commented the press service of the department.
The akimat of the Bayanaul district confirmed that no damage was found. Seismologists who detected the tremors reported that the earthquake's magnitude was 1 point. Oscillations were recorded at 06:44.
Meanwhile, residents of the settlement say that the underground tremors were quite strong.
"The noise was similar to that of last year during the collapse of the old mine, where a bus with our rescue workers fell into the pit. It happened at 06:46, it shook strongly, we thought something exploded at the mine. People in the neighboring village of Ushkulyn also heard it. But it shook us the hardest. We learned in the morning that it was an earthquake," – they reported.
The strongest tremors were felt by residents of the old neighborhood of Shanghai, which is closest to the gold mine.
Recall that the last earthquake in the Pavlodar region was recorded in September of last year. Seismologists clarified that its magnitude reached 3.4. The epicenter of the underground tremors was located 167 kilometers northwest of Pavlodar and 39 kilometers northeast of the village of Irtyshsk. However, the press service of the Pavlodar region's Emergency Situations Department reported at that time that they had not received any information about the earthquake.
According to open sources, the strongest earthquake in the Pavlodar region in the last 100 years was recorded in October 2022. Its magnitude was 4.8. It occurred 95 kilometers south of Pavlodar.
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