Earthquakes in Ethiopia through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 26 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Ethiopia. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.5, twice: on August 25, 1906 (Langano) and on August 25, 1906 (8 km E of Goba, Ethiopia).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.6 on October 5 (14 km NNE of Metahāra, Ethiopia).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.2 on June 1, 1961 (Karakore), for which NOAA records 160 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 11 here, back to 1250. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 203 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on October 11, 2025 (55 km NE of Mek'ele, Ethiopia). NOAA’s record here begins in 1250 with an eruption (Fentale). It grows thinner going back: 7 of the 11 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 5 significant eruptions of 5 volcanoes in or off Ethiopia. The largest was Alayta on August 4, 1907, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Dama Ali on February 14, 1631, which killed 50 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- October 11, 2025Earthquake · M 5.655 km NE of Mek'ele, Ethiopia · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 21, 1989Earthquake · M 6.417 km NNE of Gâlâfi, DjiboutiUSGS
- March 29, 1969Earthquake · M 6.217 km NE of Dubti, Ethiopia · 40 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 1, 1961Earthquake · M 6.2Karakore · 160 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- November 30, 1937Earthquake · M 6.431 km E of Turmi, EthiopiaUSGS
- June 30, 1919Earthquake · M 6.410 km SE of Jinka, EthiopiaUSGS
- August 4, 1907Eruption · VEI 2AlaytaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 25, 1906Earthquake · M 6.58 km E of Goba, EthiopiaUSGS
- August 25, 1906Earthquake · M 6.5LanganoNOAA NCEI
- February 14, 1631EruptionDama Ali · 50 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1250EruptionFentaleNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Ethiopia when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Ethiopia is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Ethiopia, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history