PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, April 21 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 31 people have been injured in a series of earthquakes that rocked the northern part of the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East on Friday, a local emergencies official said.
"Of this number, seven have been hospitalized," the official said, adding that no fatalities had been reported so far, but emergency services would provide final figures after communications with four remote villages is restored.
The 7.8-magnitude quake, the strongest since 1900 in Kamchatka's Koryak area, which is eight time zones from Moscow, damaged several buildings and facilities in the town of Tilichiki, including a school, a kindergarten, a local airport's runway, and cut power and water supplies in several villages.
Another quake, with a magnitude of 6.2, hit the same area several hours later. Several minor tremors have been reported since then.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the Emergency Situations Ministry to take all necessary measures to eliminate the effects of the earthquakes.
A ministry Be-200 amphibious plane with relief aid from the far-eastern regional center of Khabarovsk has already landed in Kamchatka's administrative center, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Another aircraft from Khabarovsk and an Il-76 cargo plane from Moscow are set to deliver aid to Koryakia early Saturday.
