Strong 6.8 quake hits remote Siberia region

MOSCOW: A strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook Thursday the remote and largely uninhabited Sakha region in Russia's eastern Siberia, ITAR-TASS quoted the local emergency ministry service as saying.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the quake, whose epicentre was recorded 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of the northeastern Sakha village of Ust-Nera.

The tremor struck 10 kilometres (six miles) below ground at 5:13 Moscow time (1313 GMT), the Sakha emergency ministry said.

The US Geological Survey estimated the quake at magnitude 6.6.

News reports said the quake could not be felt in the vast region's main city of Yakutsk, which has a population of 270,000.