Within a one-month period, Mongolia experienced five earthquakes in four different provinces of the country. The first one occurred on 16 February 2019 at 13:23hrs with a magnitude of 4.6 in Ulziit soum of Arkhangai province. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) received a phone call at 13:48 about the earthquake from the Yamaat Bag, which is located southeast of Ulziit soum. The Yamaat Bag is located 120 km from the province centre, and areas known as Tsogt-Uul, Bor Tolgoi and the ‘prosecutor’s building’ experienced tremors. The epicentre of the earthquake was 28 km to the southeast of the soum centre at a latitude of 47.88 and longitude of 102.79 in a wilderness area where no livestock or people were present. The earthquake did not cause any damage and there were no casualties.

The second earthquake occurred on 18 February 2019 at 07:00 with a magnitude of 3.6 in Mandal soum of Selenge province. NEMA received the information from the National Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics at 08:00 on the same day. The epicentre was 40 km from the soum centre – no casualties were reported.

The third earthquake occurred on 24 February 2019 at 23:50 with a magnitude of 3.73 in Khuder soum of Selenge province, approximately 60 km from the soum centre. According to the soum authorities, no casualties were reported as the epicentre occurred in a remote location.

The fourth quake occurred on 27 February 2019 at 22:45hrs with a magnitude of 4.06 in Zaamar soum of Tuv province according to the National Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics.
According to the local emergency agency, no casualties were reported.

An open cast mine located in Zaamar soum of Tuv province collapsed on 28 February 2019, causing injury to two people and four deaths of who were buried under the collapsed mining pit. According to NEMA, this event was not related to the earthquake; however, an investigation is underway.

The fifth earthquake with the magnitude of 3.8 occurred on 2 March 2019 at 03:46hrs in Tonkhil soum of Gobi-Altai province. The earthquake occurred in a remote area and no casualties were reported. Even though, in all five occurrences there were no casualties, NEMA is urging local authorities to encourage community members to take part in earthquake preparedness trainings and simulation exercises. All MRCS mid-level branches are providing these trainings to the public as part of the “Be Ready” training module with local emergency management agencies. Ideally, the MRCS mid-level branches are aiming to cover the population in their respective areas and targeting at least 30 percent of the total population.