Earthquakes in Turkmenistan, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 8 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Turkmenistan. 4 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.2, twice: on May 1, 1929 (40 km SSE of Baharly, Turkmenistan) and on October 5, 1948 (14 km N of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
The one on October 5, 1948 was the deadliest: NOAA records 110,000 deaths for it. 6 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 114,232 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7 on December 6, 2000 (37 km E of Balkanabat, Turkmenistan). NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off Turkmenistan. The highest water NOAA records here was 1.35 m, on May 9, 1933.
The events
- December 6, 2000Earthquake · M 7.037 km E of Balkanabat, Turkmenistan · 11 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 6, 1986Earthquake · M 6.5Caspian SeaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- October 5, 1948Earthquake · M 7.214 km N of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan · 110,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 4, 1946Earthquake · M 7.040 km NE of Balkanabat, Turkmenistan · 400 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- May 9, 1933Tsunami · 1.35 m hereKuuli-MayakNOAA NCEI
- May 1, 1929Earthquake · M 7.240 km SSE of Baharly, Turkmenistan · 3,800 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Turkmenistan when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Turkmenistan is the nearest country.
- 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 Turkmenistan, 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