Toll 280 in Soviet Asian Quake; Site a Common Grave

Officials Wednesday abandoned hope of finding any more survivors of the earthquake and mudslide that hit three mountain villages and said this Tadzhik settlement will be dedicated as a common grave.

Along with the bad news that no more survivors could expect to be found, there also was good news: Officials said the death toll from Monday’s disaster was only about 280--a quarter of the 1,000 they originally had estimated.

“We will transform the settlement of Sharora into a common grave with a monument to commemorate the victims of this catastrophe,” said Khusain Kasymov, Communist Party chief in the Tadzhik republic’s Gissar region.

The religious leader of predominantly Muslim Tadzhikistan, Akbar Kakharov, participated in discussions leading to that decision.

“Regrettably, there is no one left who can be saved,” he told the official Tass news agency.

“Muslim law, the sharia , says that people buried alive must be left there,” said Izzatullo Khayoyev, premier of the Central Asian republic.

“There may be a difference of five or seven people in casualties, but no more,” he said.

He said a nationwide census completed only four days before the quake struck helped provide a quick and accurate count.

Officials said the earthquake, which was recorded at magnitude 5.4, toppled all 80 brick-and-straw dwellings in the settlement of Okuli-bolo, about 20 miles southwest of the Tadzhik capital, Dushanbe.