Tajikistan officials say about 20,000 people have been left homeless after an earthquake rocked the impoverished central Asian nation. No deaths have been reported.
Authorities say that in the heavily hit Vanch district alone, more than 1,000 mud-brick homes were destroyed.
Local officials estimate the damages from Saturday's 5.0-magnitude temblor at $1.5 million. The worst-hit villages are about 400 kilometers southeast of the capital, Dushanbe.
Authorities said the quake cut electricity supplies and communications in the area. Rockfalls and mudslides blocked a road linking Vanch with a regional center and other villages.
Earthquakes are fairly common in the mountains of Tajikistan, one of the poorest of the former Soviet republics.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, Reuters.
