Koryak Autonomous Okrug
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Koryak Autonomous Okrug (Russian: Коря́кский автоно́мный о́круг), or Koryakia, is a federal subject of Russia (an autonomous okrug of Kamchatka Oblast). With a population of 25,157 (2002 Census), about a quarter of them Koryaks, it has the second smallest population of all Russian federal subjects, despite being ranked 19th in size, at 301,500 km².
The administrative center of Koryakia is the urban-type settlement of Palana.
On April 20, 2006, Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula was struck by a major earthquake. The 7.7-magnitude tremblor had its epicenter near the village of Tilichiki. The Koryakia branch of the Russian Office of Emergency Situations said some area residents were injured but there were no fatalities.
The quake occurred at about noon local time Friday, so residents were awake and not caught in their beds.
The United States Geological Survey reported a series of at least fifty smaller aftershocks in the area and immediately offshore. They ranged from 4.1 to 6.5 magnitudes on the Richter scale.
Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist with the U.S.G.S. in Colorado, said the quake was relatively shallow. He estimated that about 2,000 people live close enough to the epicenter to have felt its full force.
[edit] Administrative divisions
[edit] Demographics
Population (2005 est.): 23,800.
Ethnic groups:
- Russians (50.6%);
- Koryaks (26.7%);
- Chukchis (5.6%);
- Itelmens (4.7%);
- Ukrainians (4.1%);
- Evens (3.0%);
- Tatars (0.9%);
- Belarusians (0.6%);
- Kamchadals (0.52%).
Birth rate was 13.92 per 1000 in 2004.