Earthquakes in Kazakhstan through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 6 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in Kazakhstan. One stands far above the rest: an estimated magnitude 8.3 on July 11, 1889 (Cilik, Alma-Ata). The next strongest reached 7.3.
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 20 (156 km SE of Kuqa, China). The strongest: magnitude 4.7 on October 10 (7 km S of Trudarmeyskiy, Russia).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6 on December 1, 2003 (106 km E of Kegen, Kazakhstan), for which NOAA records 11 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 7 here, back to 1887. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 13 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.4 on June 13, 2009 (Tekeli). NOAA’s record here begins on June 8, 1887 with an earthquake (Vernensk). 2 of the 7 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927.
The events
- June 13, 2009Earthquake · M 5.4Tekeli · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- December 1, 2003Earthquake · M 6.0106 km E of Kegen, Kazakhstan · 11 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 12, 1990Earthquake · M 6.435 km NW of Tyup, KyrgyzstanUSGS
- June 14, 1990Earthquake · M 6.647 km NNE of Zaysan, Kazakhstan · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 3, 1929Earthquake · M 6.4124 km SSW of Yanykurgan, KazakhstanUSGS
- July 11, 1889Earthquake · M 8.3 (est.)Cilik, Alma-AtaNOAA NCEI
- June 8, 1887Earthquake · M 7.3 (est.)VernenskNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Kazakhstan when it began inside its borders. Damage can reach across them.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Kazakhstan, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history