ISLAMABAD – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake has hit Tajikistan, according to the US Geological Survey.
The earthquake’s epicenter was located 109 kilometers (68 miles) west of Murghob, Tajikistan and 133 kilometers (83 miles) northeast of Khorugh, Tajikistan. The depth of the quake was 29 kilometers.
But buildings shook as far away in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, sources report.
A spokesman for Tajikistan’s Emergencies Committee said it had no information so far on any casualties or damage from the quake, while Russia’s defence ministry said its bases in the country were unaffected.
In Dushanbe, the Tajikistani capital around 400 miles from the earthquake’s epicentre, the tremors felt “moderate” according to a resident speaking to Reuters by telephone.
The US Geological Survey describes the area as one of the “most seismically hazardous regions on Earth” because of tectonic activity along shifting fault lines.
The Main Pamir Thrust, beneath mountains in Tajikistan, produces numerous earthquakes as the Indian and Eurasian plates collide.
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake in the Central Pamir Mountains killed almost 100 people in 1911 and triggered a massive landslide that blocked the Murghab River.