'We are continuing rescue operations to see if anyone may be still buried under the debris,' said an emergencies ministry spokesman from the regional centre of Osh.

The earthquake measuring 6.3 according to the US Geological Survey was felt throughout Central Asia late on Sunday, mainly in Kyrgyzstan.

The Kyrgyz emergencies ministry originally said it had no information of major destruction or casualties.

The quake jolted an area between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most densely populated corner prone to ethnic tension and instability.

The earthquake was felt throughout the region, mainly in Kyrgyzstan, but there were conflicting reports about the magnitude and epicentre.

The US Geological Survey reported that the tremor struck 55km east of Sary-Tash near the borders of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at 9.52pm (11.52pm Singapore time).

'There are no reports of casualties or destruction. We are checking all information,' Mr Ramis Satybekov, an Emergencies Ministry official, told Reuters by telephone from Osh.

A Tajik earthquake detection centre said the quake struck on the border between Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China.

Ms Alla Pyatibratova, a journalist in Osh, said Kyrgyzstan's second-biggest city was calm.

'Everyone felt the earthquake and immediately ran outside. I did not see anything destroyed,' she said by telephone. 'People returned to their homes after a while.'

Earthquakes are frequent occurrences in Central Asia, a region wedged between Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and China.

In 1966, the Uzbek capital Tashkent was flattened by a 7.5 earthquake when hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. A 6.0 magnitude quake on the 12-level rocked Tashkent this August but there was no damage. -- REUTERS