MOSCOW: A strong earthquake reverberated through the Caucasus mountains region on Saturday, leaving one person dead and disrupting communications in the Russian province of Chechnya, officials and media said.

The quake measuring 5.5 on the 12-point Russian seismic scale was felt in five regions of the Russian north Caucasus as well as in neighbouring Georgia and Armenia but there were no reports of major damage, officials said.

The Earth Sciences Observatory at Strasbourg, eastern France, said the quake measured a powerful 6.3 degrees on the Richter scale. It struck at 0906 GMT with an epicentre at 43.19 degrees north and 46.40 degrees east, which would put it in the province of Dagestan.

One man died when a wall fell on him in the Chechen city of Gudermes and residents who live in high apartment buildings left their homes briefly due to fear of aftershocks.