After residents of Almaty felt tremors and received a presidential alert, many left their buildings and apartments. Footage of the evacuations appeared on social media, including from the 12th floor as well as from schools and universities, the website infohub.kz reports.
Videos circulating online show Almaty residents leaving their apartments and heading outside after the earthquake. Some made their way down from the 12th floor. Schools and universities also carried out evacuations: in one clip, schoolchildren can be seen streaming down a staircase.
On the social network Threads, Almaty residents shared messages about the earthquake and described how their evacuations unfolded. "There was an earthquake in Almaty. Who felt it? We evacuated from work on our own. Some patriots stayed in the office," one woman wrote.
"Almaty, we had a powerful earthquake today, but the children, as always, did everything in a coordinated and precise way at the right moment. The whole school evacuated quickly, smoothly and safely. The children are standing outside playing on their own," a teacher noted on social media.
"The alert came, as usual, afterwards... All the neighbors came outside, and all the students were led out of the nearby school," another user reported.
Universities also suspended classes. This was reported by ashilova1165. "We felt a strong jolt. The children were very frightened. We're on the fourth floor, and we were swaying hard. We went outside immediately, without panicking. My hands are still shaking — it was so unexpected," the teacher said.
User osmanov.i.z said he went outside immediately after receiving the notification. "We only heard the siren after the earthquake. There were two strong jolts. We're in the city center. People are writing that the eastern part didn't shake much, as if a KAMAZ truck drove by," the man said.
Some felt the earthquake while inside their apartments. The moment of the tremor was captured by a surveillance camera.
Recall that the network of seismic stations of the NNCSNiI LLP of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan had earlier registered an earthquake. It was reported that the seismic event was recorded in the city of Almaty. It later became known that the perceived intensity in Almaty was magnitude 3-4. Tremors were also felt in Kaskelen — magnitude 2-3; Boraldai, 19 km — magnitude 2-3; Otegen Batyr, 28 km — magnitude 2. The Ministry of Emergency Situations later published data on the earthquake in Almaty — the perceived intensity in the metropolis and the region became known.