Rescue crews have reached a remote mountain village in Central Asia, close to Kyrgyzstan's border with China searching for survivors of a powerful earthquake that killed at least 74 people.

The US Geological Survey says the Kyrgyz quake measured 6.6.

It was felt over a wide area and razed the village of Nura of 960 residents in the Tian Shan mountains at an altitude of 2,000 metres.

The rescue operation is being hampered by the remoteness of the village and a lack of telephone links, while roads are impassable in places due to the quake

Helicopters are being used to ferry the seriously injured to the main regional city of Osh, 220 kilometres from the quake scene.

Hours later, a powerful tremor struck a sparsely populated area of Tibet, killing at least 30 people.

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