With the last women and children evacuated from Armenian towns and villages devastated by the Dec. 7 earthquake, efforts turned to rebuilding, even as a moderate temblor rocked another area of the southern Soviet Union.
The official Tass news agency said the Wednesday quake in Kirghizia, 2,300 miles southeast of Moscow and 1,200 miles east of the stricken Armenian region, damaged several houses but caused no casualties."An earthquake measuring force 6 (on the Soviet scale) in the epicenter occurred in southern Kirghizia at 11:21 a.m. (1:21 a.m. MST) on Wednesday," the news agency said. "According to preliminary data, the tremors damaged houses in the village of Shamaldy Sai but there were no casualties."
The U.S. Geological Survey said preliminary readings showed the earthquake measured 5.4 on the Richter scale and was centered about 160 miles east of Tashkent in the southern part of the central Soviet Union.
The top American Red Cross official said in Moscow that no more emergency aid need be sent to the Soviet Union.