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6.8 magnitude earthquake hits Tajikistan near China border

An aerial view of Dushanbe city and capital of Tajikistan. [Photo: Twitter/ Wikimedia Commons]

An earthquake of 6.8 magnitude hit eastern Tajikistan on Thursday, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake struck around 5.37 am local time at a depth of about 20.5 kilometres.

The epicentre appeared to be in Gorno-Badakhshan, a semi-autonomous eastern region that borders Afghanistan and China, about 67 kilometres from the small mountain town of Murghob, as per AFP report.

An aftershock of about 5.0 magnitude struck the area which happened almost 20 minutes after the initial quake, followed by a 4.6-magnitude quake. This quake has resulted in tremors across various regions covering China and Tajikistan.

This earthquake was actively felt in several countries like Tajikistan, Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan. Acute damages were caused as an aftermath of the Tajikistan earthquake of 6.8 magnitudes. The U.S. Geological Survey stated that it occurred 67 km west of Murghob, Tajikistan and 20 km deep.

Earlier, a massive earthquake killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes in Turkey and Syria.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has raised the number of fatalities in Turkey from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake to 43,556.

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria now stands at 47,244.

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