5.5 Quake Causes Injuries, Damage at German Border

A strong earthquake shook East and West Germany today, and East German media reported damage and injuries from falling chimneys in villages along the border.

The earthquake, which occurred at 2:02 p.m. and lasted 12 seconds, caused minor damage in West Germany and was felt in parts of Switzerland and Czechoslovakia, officials said.

West German authorities said the quake had a magnitude of 5.7. East Germany’s ADN news agency put the magnitude at 5.5 and said the quake was triggered by a huge explosion in an underground mine. This could not immediately be confirmed.

Chimneys fell in the East German border village of Vacha, and several people were injured there, the state-run agency said. It did not give casualty figures.

It said buildings in four other villages in the area also suffered damage. The quake also caused power outages, and streets in the four villages were blocked by rubble, ADN said.

“In the village of Voelkershausen, 80% of the buildings were damaged, some of them so badly that residents had to be evacuated as a precaution,” the East German agency said.

The agency said the quake was triggered by a blast in a potash mine in Merkers, six miles from the border. ADN, based in East Berlin, said all the miners were safe.

Hesse state radio in West Germany quoted an unidentified geophysicist in Frankfurt as saying it was “unusual for mine blasting to trigger such a large quake.”

West German authorities said the quake was centered near Kassel on the western side of the border. Kassel is 72 miles northeast of Frankfurt and 18 miles from the East German border.

Police in Kassel said there had been no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the area. There were no reports of damage or injuries in Frankfurt.