Officials said that 41 of the victims in the mountainous south of the country were children.
The 6.6 magnitude quake brought down dozens of buidings and injured more than 100 people around the epicenter when it struck at 9:53 p.m. local time.
The U.S. Geological Survey determined the epicenter was 35 miles (60 km) east-southeast of Sary-Tash, Kyrgyzstan, near the border with Tajikistan.
The initial jolt was followed by a 5.4 magnitude aftershock a few hours later.
Nura, a remote village of 960 residents, is “fully destroyed,” emergency ministry spokesman Kamchibek Tashiyev told Interfax. “What we saw was frightening.”