DUSHANBE, January 4, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- A special commission has left for GBAO’s Vanj district today morning to assess an actual damage caused by Saturday’s earthquake, According to the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES).

“The commission members will also inspect residential buildings damaged by the tremor,” the source at a CES said.

According to the Dushanbe seismological station, an epicenter of the quake that occurred on January 2, at 7:15 am was 230 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe and 15 kilometers of the administrative center of the Vanj district in Gorno Badakhshan.  In the epicenter, the earthquake’s magnitude was 5.0.  A 4.0 magnitude tremor could be felt in Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan and a 3.0 magnitude tremor could be felt in the Lake Sarez area.  The tremor measuring 2.0 on a 12-point scale could be felt in Dushanbe as well.

According to Reuters, more than 1,000 homes were destroyed in a January 2 earthquake in the Vanj district.  There were no casualties as residents left their houses when they felt the first tremors.