Published by: World Tibet Network News ISSUE ID: 98/01/03

9.58 a.m. EDT (1458 GMT) January 1, 1998

WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. Geological Survey reports there were fewer earthquakes than usual in 1997, but they killed more people.

The agency said Wednesday it recorded 17 major tremors during the year, meaning those with a magnitude of 7.0 or more and thus capable of widespread, heavy damage.

The annual average is 20 major quakes. There were 21 in 1996.

Meanwhile, the agency said it recorded the first significant quake of 1998 at 1:11 a.m. EST today in a string of unoccupied volcanic islands off Japan.

It said the epicenter of the quake, which recorded a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, was about 65 miles southwest of Iwo Jima and was unlikely to have been felt because of the isolated location in the Pacific Ocean. There were no reports of damage.

Despite the decline in temblors, the 1997 death toll was at least 2,913, up from 449 in 1996, according to figures compiled by the Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

The year's deadliest earthquake struck northern Iran on May 10 with a magnitude of 7.1. It caused at least 1,567 deaths, 2,300 injuries and left 50,000 homeless.

In the United States the year's strongest quake had a magnitude of 4.9 and struck the state of Washington in June, causing slight damage at Bremerton and Poulsbo.

Other significant earthquakes for the year occurred near the East coast of Kamchatka, Russia, and near the coast of central Chile.

The strongest earthquake in the world in 1997 struck in Tibet about 520 miles north-northeast of Katmandu, Nepal, on Nov. 8.