The 70th anniversary of the 1949 Khait earthquake

in Tajikistan

A.Ya. Sidorin

Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

e-mail: al_sidorin@hotmail.com

Abstract. In connection with the 70th anniversary of the Khait earthquake of July 10, 1949, information is presented on the parameters, features of the manifestation and the effects of this seismic event. The most important effects of the earthquake and the causes of numerous casualties are considered. Photos of the effects of the earthquake from the personal archive of V.F. Bonchkovsky, who headed the commission for the examination of the epicentral zone. The Khait earthquake of July 10, 1949 is the strongest known in the conjunction zone of the South Tien Shan and the Tajik Depression. It was preceded by two strong foreshocks and was followed by a very large number of aftershocks, including strong ones. Seismic vibrations have led to building damage over a large area. But the catastrophic effects of the Khait earthquake are mainly associated with its secondary manifestations - the emergence of a large number of landslides, mudflows, stone and earth avalanches. They became the direct cause of the huge number of victims and led to significant geomorphological changes in the epicentral zone. As a result of the stone-mud avalanche, the district center of Khait was buried with the inhabitants. A total of 33 settlements were destroyed by mudflows. In total, about 28 thousand people died, which is comparable to the number of victims of the Ashgabat 1948 and 1988 Spitak earthquakes. The huge size of the catastrophe is due to the fact that a very strong earthquake occurred in an area characterized by very high activity of landslide processes during a period of very high water saturation of the slopes, i.e. during the period of their very high instability.

Keywords: Khait earthquake, earthquake parameters, isoseismal map, building damage, landslides, rockfalls, victims

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

SIDORIN Alexander Yakovlevich – Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Head of Laboratory, Chief Researcher, Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences. Russia, 123242, Moscow, Bolshaya Gruzinskaya st., 10-1. E-mail: al_sidorin@hotmail.com

Cite this article as: Sidorin A.Ya. The 70th anniversary of the 1949 Khait earthquake in Tajikistan, Voprosy Inzhenernoi Seismologii (Problems of Engineering Seismology). 2019. V. 46, No. 3. P. 163–174 [in Russian]. https://doi.org/10.21455/VIS2019.3-11

English translation of the article will be published in Seismic Instruments, ISSN: 0747-9239 (Print) 1934-7871 (Online), https://link.springer.com/journal/11990