Earthquakes in Kyrgyzstan through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 23 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in Kyrgyzstan. 5 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8 on January 3, 1911 (The 1911 Kemin Earthquake, Kyrgyzstan).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 1 (50 km NNE of Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan).
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 450 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 20 here, back to 251 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 6 of the events here, 671 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on November 17, 2015 (Osh). NOAA’s record here begins in 251 BCE with an earthquake (Chiguchin). It grows thinner going back: 15 of the 20 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on.
The events
- November 17, 2015Earthquake · M 5.6OshNOAA NCEI
- October 5, 2008Earthquake · M 6.7131 km SE of Nookat, Kyrgyzstan · 74 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 19, 1992Earthquake · M 7.360 km ENE of Toktogul, Kyrgyzstan · 75 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 24, 1978Earthquake · M 7.123 km ENE of Tyup, KyrgyzstanUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- November 2, 1946Earthquake · M 7.534 km N of Kerben, KyrgyzstanUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 20, 1938Earthquake · M 7.022 km ESE of Kemin, KyrgyzstanUSGS
- January 3, 1911Earthquake · M 8.0The 1911 Kemin Earthquake, Kyrgyzstan · 450 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 251 BCEEarthquake · M 6.7 (est.)ChiguchinNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Kyrgyzstan 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 Kyrgyzstan, 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