Japan earthquake not to directly affect Armenia, seismologists say

PanARMENIAN.Net - Head of the National Service of Seismic Protection at the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations Hrachya Poghosyan said that the massive earthquake in Japan will not directly affect Armenia.

First, this is explained by the fact that the earthquake took place far from Armenia, as well as by the fact that “we are located on different tectonic plates.”

As for light earth shocks in Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey, Petrosyan told journalists in Yerevan that they help in consuming the energy accumulated in the Earth crust, what allows avoiding violent earthquakes.

A massive earthquake, 9.0 on the Richter scale, unleashed a huge tsunami which crashed through Japan's eastern coastline, on March 11. According to the updated data, 5,900 people are considered to be killed or missing.

The cooling system of nuclear reactors at Fukushima nuclear plant has failed as a result of the earthquake. The failure has resulted in explosions at the first and third energy units. A "state of emergency" is declared at the neighboring Fukushima-2 nuclear plant, where the cooling system has also failed. People have been evacuated within a 20-km zone.

On March 14, Japan asked IAEA to send a group of specialists to assist in overcoming the situation at the nuclear plants.