Uzbekistan is in central Asia. It is landlocked, 447,400 square kilometers (174,330 square miles) in area, and slightly larger than California. Two-thirds of the country is desert, the rest is either mountains or semiarid grassland. Uzbekistan’s elevation ranges from sea level to 4,400 meters (14,430 feet). Seismic activity is abundant in Uzbekistan. Tashkent was nearly destroyed by an earthq…