Casualties Reported in Balkan Earthquake

MOSCOW —  A powerful earthquake that sent shock waves through the Balkans caused casualties and considerable damage in the Soviet republic of Moldavia, the Soviet news agency Tass reported Sunday.

Moscow television news showed bulldozers and excavators clearing large amounts of rubble from streets in Kishinev, capital of Moldavia, which borders Romania.

Tass gave no casualty figures in the tremor, which was centered 110 miles northeast of Bucharest, Romania, on Saturday night. Residents said they have heard of a number of deaths in the epicenter region as people fled their homes, fearing a repeat of a 1977 earthquake that claimed 1,500 lives.

The official Romanian Agerpres news agency, however, reported that the quake registered 6.5 on the Richter scale, about 20 times less powerful than the 1977 disaster.