A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit eastern Tajikistan near the border with China on Thursday, the USGS Seismological Institute said.

According to the same source, the earthquake was registered at 05:37 (local time; 02:37 Greek time) at a depth of 20.5 km.

The USGS has estimated that a “minimal number of residents” in the area – perhaps even “none” – would be at risk from landslides. According to the American Institute, the quake’s epicenter was in Gorno-Badakhshan, a semi-autonomous region bordering China and Afghanistan.

Approximately twenty minutes after the first earthquake, a second magnitude 5 was recorded.

The sparsely populated area where the epicenter was located is surrounded by the imposing Pamir Mountains.

Earlier, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that the main earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 occurred near the border of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with Tajikistan. The depth of the outbreak was estimated by the Chinese at 10 kilometers.

The Xinhua news agency said there were no reports of injuries or problems with electricity and telecommunications in the Chinese province.

Source: APE-MPE, Xinhua.