WASHINGTON: A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake has struck Tajikistan, US seismologists said Monday.

The tremor hit at 7:50 GMT some 109 kilometers (67 miles) west of the town of Murghob at a depth of 28 kilometers, the US Geological Survey said.

In the Richter scale, a magnitude-7 earthquake is described as a major quake that causes damage to most buildings, some to partially or completely collapse or receive severe damage and could be "felt across great distances with major damage mostly limited to 250 km from epicenter."