A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Tajikistan, and a strong tremor was felt in China

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A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Tajikistan Thursday morning, with tremors shaking parts of neighboring China vigorously.

The quake struck around 8.37 am Beijing local time at a depth of 6 miles, Chinese state media reported, citing the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The epicenter was located about 82 kilometers from the nearest border with China and was felt across the Xinjiang region, including Kashgar and Artox.

The epicenter appears to be in Gorno-Badakhshan, a semi-autonomous and sparsely populated eastern region dominated by the towering Pamir Mountains.

There have been no reports so far of injuries or casualties.

The area was hit by two aftershocks measuring 5 and 4.6 on the Richter scale, about 20 minutes after the initial tremor.

The USGS estimated that “little or no landslides” occurred from the quake.

Power supply and communications remained normal in Kashgar, state news agency Xinhua reported, while the Xinjiang Railway Administration called for passenger trains operating on the Aksu section to Kashgar to be stopped.

Local authorities in China said they are inspecting bridges, tunnels and signaling devices.

Tajikistan, a landlocked country in Central Asia, is highly prone to natural disasters and has a history of earthquakes and avalanches. At least nine people were killed in February in an avalanche in the Gorno-Badakhshan region, while one person was killed in a separate avalanche near the capital, Dushanbe.

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