The 2000 Baku earthquake occurred on November 25 at 22:10 (18:10 GMT) local time, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale in the epicentre and three minutes later followed by a quake measuring 5.9. It was the strongest for almost 160 years, since 1842 in the Baku suburbs and in addition to the capital affected Sumgayit, Shamakhi and neighboring cities. According to the United States Geological Survey, the epicentre was in the Caspian Sea, 25 km to the south-southeast of Baku. The earthquake was felt as far away as e.g. Tbilisi, 600 km northwest of the epicentre, Makhachkala and the Karabudakh and Isberbas settlements in Dagestan. It is assumed that the earthquake was triggered by active tectonic motion on the border of two major sections of the earth crust – the Turansk plate and the Kopedag-Ca