The granite statue of twins atop 26 Mammadaliyev Street shook lose and fell to the street below.

2000 Baku earthquake occurred on Saturday, November 25, 2000 measuring 6,3 on the Richter scale and followed by a quake measuring 5,9^[1], at 22:13 (18:13 GMT) and 22:10 local time correspondently. It was the strongest for almost 160 years, since 1842 earthquake in the Baku suburbs and except capital affected Sumgayit, Shamakhi and neighboring cities. According to the United States Geological Survey, the epicentre was in the Caspian Sea, 25 km to the south south-east of Baku. The earthquake was felt as far away as e.g. Tbilisi, 600 km north west of the epicentre, Makhachkala (up to magnitude 4) and the Karabudakh and Isberbas settlements in Dagestan (up to 5). It is assumed that the earthquke was called by the active tectonic motions on the border of two biggest structures of the earth crust – Turansk plate and Kopedag-Caucasian folded plate motion area. The earthquake zone gravitates towards Apsheron-Chelekensk deep crust break^[2]. Satellite view of Baku The Baku harbour on the south of Absheron peninsula The Maiden Tower in old town Baku Baku (Azerbaijani: Bakı), sometimes known as Baky or Baki, is the capital of Azerbaijan. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The Richter magnitude test scale (or more correctly local magnitude ML scale) assigns a single number to quantify the size of an earthquake. ... For alternate meanings of GMT, see GMT (disambiguation). ... 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Map of Azerbaijan showing Sumqayit sahar Sumqayit (Sumqayıt in Azerbaijani; former Russian name Sumgait) is a city in Republic of Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, about 30 kilometres away from the capital, Baku. ... Shamakhi (Åžamaxı) is a rayon of Azerbaijan. ... The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government. ... The epicenter or epicentre (ancient Greek: επίκεντρον) is the point on the Earths surface that is directly above or below the center of a localized explosive event or point of seismic energy release. ... Caspian Sea viewed from orbit The Caspian Sea is a landlocked endorheic sea between Asia and Europe (European Russia). ... Tbilisi (Georgian თბილისი) is the capital city of the country of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura (Mtkvari) river, at . ... Makhachkala (Russian: ) is a city in Russia, the capital of the Republic of Dagestan. ... The Republic of Dagestan (Russian: ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... ... Earth cutaway from core to exosphere. ...

Aftermath

According to Azeri government, 26 people died as a primary result, but only three people in collapsing buildings. A total of 412 people were either hospitalised or sought medical assistance. President Heydar Aliyev announced that more than 90 buildings and apartment blocks have been seriously damaged. Damage has been identified at the German church, the 15th century Shirvanshahs' Palace, the Theater of Opera and Ballet, the Təzə Pir mosque, the Blue Mosque and the Palace of Happiness. Despite of affecting northern-eastern coastline of Azerbaijan no damage has been reported to the offshore oil exploration infrastructure. Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev (HeydÉ™r Əlirza oÄŸlu Əliyev in Azerbaijani) (sometimes transliterated as Heidar Aliev or Geidar Aliev from the Russian Гейдар Алиев) (May 10, 1923? - December 12, 2003) served as president of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev... 10,000 manat banknote of 1994 featuring Palace of the Shirvanshahs Palace of the Shirvanshahs (or Shirvanshahs Palace, Azeri: ÅžirvanÅŸahlar sarayı, Russian: Дворец ширваншахов) is the biggest monument of the Shirvan-Absheron branch of the Azerbaijan architecture, situated in the Inner City of Baku. ...

Many phone lines were down and the electricity was out in much of the city. Due to anxiety caused by possible fires the natural gas supply was reduced to 80%. Baku and Sumgait residents spent the rest of the night on the street. After the disaster seismologists have banned the construction of buildigs with over nine floors. Seismology (from the Greek seismos = earthquake and logos = word) is the scientific study of earthquakes and the movement of waves through the Earth. ...

On the same day the earthquake in Saratov caused by tectonic changes in the Volga region after the Baku earthquake took place^[3]. Saratov flag Saratov (Russian: ) is a major city in southern European Russia. ... For other meanings of the word Volga see Volga (disambiguation) Волга Length 3,690 km Elevation of the source 225 m Average discharge  ? m³/s Area watershed 1. ...

Notes

• ↑ IFRC. The magnitude figure varies slightly in other sources. According to the national seismological service, the tremors magnitude in Baku and Sumgait was 6-6,5 on the Richter scale while several other districts experienced tremors of 4.
• ↑ Quake info
• ↑ "Саратовские Вести"

External links

• CNN.com report
• Коммерсантъ (in Russian)
• Summary of Azeri and Russian sources (in Russian)