Kutaisi, Georgia - image courtesy virtualtourist.com
FINAL UPDATE 21/01/2011 – 23:30 UTC : The M 5.3 earthquake and aftershocks in western Georgia have not affected several pipelines traversing the South Caucasus country, the owner and operator of the pipelines says. The pipelines include the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ersrum natural gas pipeline.
UPDATE 21:05 UTC : There are no other problems reported than earlier described below.
A little bit contradictory is that “Special staff is going to work 24 hours for purpose of eradicating any reported problem”.
The mainshock was followed by 4 aftershocks (one was reported here). More aftershocks are expected the following days and even weeks.
UPDATE 13:22 UTC : Extensive video footage of the earthquake from Rustavi2 tv. Click on the link below.
Video footage from Rustavi 2, Georgia tv channel on January 19 2011 Earthquake
UPDATE 10:45 UTC : In Meore Obcha, Bagdadi district, a wall of a house collapsed. A landslide near Sairme blocked the road. Emergency services are on their way to repair the roads and to look for further damage according to Broadcasting company Rustavi 2.
UPDATE 10:36 UTC : Still no news from Sairme or from the villages close to the epicenter. As the earthquake’s hypocenter was very close to the surface, especially these villages are at risk.
UPDATE 10:19 UTC :The earthquake took place in the Imereti region of Georgia. The epicenter was located approx. ten kilometers from the mountainous resort Sairme, South-East from Vani district. The quakes were so strong that they were felt in Racha according to Broadcasting company Rustavi 2.
UPDATE 10:14 UTC : Georgian seismological center has reported a higher magnitude of 5.8
UPDATE 10:10 UTC : The epicenter of this earthquake is located approx. 70 km from the Turkish border
UPDATE 10:04 UTC : first moderate aftershock at preliminary magnitude of M 4.3 and a depth of 30 km
A very dangerous and shallow earthquake occurred in Georgia at 01:17 PM (13:17) local time.
Based on the preliminary earthquake data, the location of the epicenter is in a wilderness area, but as the epicenter location is always very uncertain if measured far away from the epicenter, we will have to wait for more reliable data before a better prediction can be made.
EMSC data are revealing a slightly different picture from this earthquake :
Depth even more shallow than USGS at 2 km
30 km SW Kutaisi (pop 178,338!)
25 km SE Samtredia (pop 28,748)
11 km SE Vani (pop 4,261) and about the same distance from Amagleba
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : M 5.3
UTC Time : January 19, 2011 at 09:17:50 UTC
Local time at epicenter : 01:17:50 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 14.2 km
Send an “earthquake experience report” for this earthquake
Geo-location(s) :
30 km (20 miles) S of K’ut’aisi, Georgia
85 km (55 miles) SE of Zugdidi, Georgia
90 km (55 miles) ENE of Bat’umi, Georgia
Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map of the area showing the kind of terrain the earthquake took place
USGS historic earthquakes map
USGS Seismic hazard map
LIVE SEISMOGRAM (nearest Seismograph station) – Unable to see anything serious as the Pakistan earthquake makes all seismograms black!
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