January 2, 2010 Earthquake: Tajikistan
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Tajikistan on January 2, 2010 at 02:15:12 UTC, 47 km below the surface.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- January 2, 2010
- Time
- 02:15:12 UTC
- Place
- Tajikistan
- Magnitude
- 5.1 (Ms)
- Magnitude scales
- Ms 5.1 · mb 5.4
- Focal depth
- 47 km (29 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 38.245° N, 71.467° E
- Country
- Tajikistan
- Region
- Central Asia and Caucasus
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
- Damage
- $1.5 million
- Houses destroyed
- 98
- Houses damaged
- 1,000
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Ninety-eight houses destroyed, about 1,000 damaged and 783 people left homeless in Kuhistoni Badakhshon. Felt at Dushanbe and Khorugh.
From the USGS event page for usp000h5kn. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Magnitude estimates
The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.4 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.43 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.4 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Ninety-eight houses destroyed, about 1,000 damaged and 783 people left homeless in Kuhistoni Badakhshon. Felt at Dushanbe and Khorugh. (reference #1053)
More than 1,000 houses were destroyed in a powerful earthquake that rocked the southeast of Tajikistan, costing the republic around $1.5 million. (reference #6066)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
- #6066 Kyiv Post (2010). Over 1,000 houses ruined by earthquake in Tajikistan. Kyiv Post, retrieved January 5, 2010 from http://www.kyivpost.com/news/russia/detail/56375/
- #6085 Associated Press (2010). Solomons quakes, tsunami leave debris, land scars. Associated Press, The Washington Post, retrieved January 5, 2010 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/04/AR2010010400862.html
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- May 30, 1998, Badakhshan, Takhar, Afghanistan
- July 10, 1949, Tajikistan
- February 4, 1998, Dushanbe, Rostaq, Tajikistan, Afghanistan
- February 18, 1911, Usoy, Barchidiv, Posor, Nisur, Tajikistan
- March 21, 2023, Laghman, Pakistan, Afghanistan
- July 21, 2007, Rasht, Asht, Tajikistan
- April 3, 2026, Kabul, Afghanistan
- April 10, 2016, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Afghanistan
- July 10, 2021, Rasht, Tojikobod, Tajikistan
- October 22, 2009, Hindu Kush, Afghanistan
- December 25, 2015, Afghanistan, Pakistan
- January 9, 2002, Roghun, Tajikistan
- April 5, 2004, Kabul, Samangan, Pakistan, Hindu Kush, Afghanistan
- December 7, 2015, Tajikistan
- January 31, 2018, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan
More
Significant earthquakes of 2010The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2010Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 8693. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp000h5kn, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.