Siberia rocked by 6.8 magnitude earthquake in remote Sakha region

It struck at 01.13 Friday local time, some 10km below ground in a remote and sparsely populated area. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property. 

The quake was not felt in the city of Yakutsk, according to first reports. 

The epicentre was some 300 km north of the Sakha village of Ust-Nera and 54km from the settlement of Syagannakh.

Tremors were felt 150km away in the administrative centre of the district, Belaya Gora, reported Itar-Tass. Temperatures in the region at the time were minus 35C. Initial reports of the scale of the earthquake varied, with the China Earthquake Networks Centre suggesting it was 7.3 on the Richter scale. 

Other reporting centres put the figure between 6.6 and 6.8.

Almost half of the territory of Sakha is considered to be prone to earthquakes. One of these hot spots is in the north east of the republic. 

The area around the epicentre is one of the most sparsely populated regions of Russia.