A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck northwest China’s Xinjiang province earlier Monday, according to the country’s Seismological Network Center (CENC). It was felt in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that the earthquake had a magnitude of 7. The epicenter of the earthquake was located 129 kilometers west-northwest of the city of Aykol, reports the USGS, which estimated the focal depth at about 13 kilometers.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that houses collapsed in communities near the epicenter of the earthquake. Currently, there is no information about dead, he clarifies.

In a video message, Bobek Achikeev, the minister of emergency management of Kyrgyzstan, emphasized that “no casualties or damage have been reported so far” in the Issyk-Kul region (east) – where the strong seismic tremor was particularly felt – while calling on the residents “not to panic”. In the capital Bishkek, an AFP reporter reported that many residents took to the streets.

Similar scenes unfolded in the most populous city of Kazakhstan, Almaty, where residents came out of their homes in fear in the middle of the night, despite the bitter cold. The earthquake was also felt in Uzbekistan, Reuters news agency reports.

Last month, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake in northwest China’s Gansu province killed 148 people. It was China’s deadliest earthquake since 2014, when more than 600 people died in Yunnan province (southwest).