No strong earthquakes are expected in Almaty in the first half of 2012

There will be no strong earthquakes at the territory of Almaty oblast in the first half of 2012, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Intergovernmental Commission under the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan. "Strong earthquakes of seven and more points on the MSK-64 scale are not expected in the first half of 2012,” Talgat Aitzhanov, Almaty Emergency Situations Department deputy director said during a live call-in show with the Vecherniy Almaty (Night Almaty ) newspaper’s readers. Aitzhanov said that the Commission provided the earthquake forecast based on the national seismic observation data two times a year. “The forecasted probability of future earthquakes makes 70%,” he said.