DUSHANBE, October 6, 2008, Asia-Plus  - President Emomali Rahmon today sent a telegram of condolences to his Kyrgyz counterpart, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, over the deadly earthquake that hit Kyrgyzstan Sunday night, according to presidential press service. 

President Rahmon said that Tajikistan was ready to provide humanitarian assistance.

In his message, Rahmon also asked to convey his deep condolences to the families and friends of people who had died in the earthquake.   

As it had been reported earlier, a major earthquake hit an area on the borders of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kyrgyzstan on October 5 at around 8:52 Tajik time, killing more than 70 people in Kyrgyzstan’s southern Osh province.  The 6.5-magnitude quake destroyed more than 100 buildings in the Osh province.

People throughout Central Asia, including Tajikistan, felt the quake.  Officials in China''s Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) reported minor damage to houses, but no casualties were reported there.