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Quake leaves 20,000 homeless in Tajikistan

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • U.S. Geological Survey: Quake was about 44.5 km below the Earth's surface
  • Quake shook Tajikistan's mountainous Gorno-Badakhshan province
  • Those made homeless live in the villages of Rog and Gishkon
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(CNN) -- About 20,000 people were left homeless Sunday, after a 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Tajikistan on Saturday, according to media reports in Russia and Tajikistan.

The quake shook Tajikistan's mountainous Gorno-Badakhshan province about 7:15 a.m. local time.

The 20,000 people were left homeless in the villages of Rog and Gishkon, where 1,050 mud dwellings were destroyed, according Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

No fatalities were reported, Tajikistan's Asia Plus news agency said on its Web site, citing Azimjon Shamsiddinov, deputy head of the Vanj district, where the two villages are located.

The Vanj district was among the hardest hit, RIA Novosti said. A hospital, two schools, a recreation center and a prosecutor's office were destroyed in the district, about 400 kilometers (249 miles) southeast of Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe, according to the news agency.

The U.S. Geological Survey classified the quake as a magnitude 5.3. It was centered 80 km (50 miles) north of Korough, Tajikistan, and was about 44.5 km (27.7 miles) below the Earth's surface, the USGS said.