Azerbaijan, Baku, May 15 / Trend, A.Akhundov /
Earthquakes in the north-west of Azerbaijan have had no great impact on agricultural production, Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister Ismet Abasov told journalists on Tuesday.
"There was some impact, but it is insignificant since residential and social facilities mainly suffered," Abasov said.
An earthquake measuring seven points jolted the Zagatala region at 09:40 on May 7. Eight more tremors were recorded during the day.
As a result of the earthquake about 3000 houses and 124 social facilities were destroyed in the Zagatala region. There were no deaths or serious injuries reported.
Two more earthquakes rocked Zagatala region of Azerbaijan at night from Saturday to Sunday, on May 13. The first quake, with a magnitude of 3.50 was registered 14 km south-east of the city of Zagatala at 11pm on Saturday. The second and more powerful one, with a magnitude of 3.80 occurred 11 km south-east of the regional centre at 2:10am on Sunday.
The first earthquake was felt with intensity of up to three points near its epicentre, while the second one was up to 3.5-4 points.
Tremors continued on Monday and Tuesday in Zagatala. This morning a five point earthquake hit Zagatala.
The Republican Seismological Service Centre of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) believes that the earthquake will not subside soon, and that tremors will continue for several months. Perhaps the tremors will hit four to five points, the Centre suggested.