The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15-200 are killed.
The 1966 Tashkent earthquake (Uzbek: Toshkent zilzilasi; Russian: Ташкентское землетрясение) occurred on 26 April in the Uzbek SSR. It had a magnitude of 5.1 with an epicenter in central Tashkent at a depth of 3–8 kilometers (1.9–5.0 mi). The earthquake caused massive destruction to Tashkent, destroying most of the buildings in the city, killing between 15 and 200 people and leaving between 200,000 to 300,000 homeless. Following the disaster, most of the historic parts of Tashkent had been destroyed and the city was rebuilt, modelled on Soviet architectural styles. Soviet authorities created an Institute of seismology in order to forecast future earthquakes.