Earthquakes in Ethiopia, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 174 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Ethiopia. None reached magnitude 6: the strongest was a magnitude 5.9 on February 14, 2025 (5 km NNW of Metahāra, 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 5.7 on January 4, 2025 (52 km N of Āwash, Ethiopia), for which NOAA records 2 deaths. 2 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 3 in all. 2025 had the most magnitude 4.5+ earthquakes: 111 of the 174. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on October 11, 2025 (55 km NE of Mek'ele, Ethiopia). NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off Ethiopia.
The events
- November 23, 2025Earthquake · M 5.5116 km WSW of Edd, EritreaUSGS
- November 23, 2025EruptionHayli GubbiNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 11, 2025Earthquake · M 5.655 km NE of Mek'ele, Ethiopia · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- February 14, 2025Earthquake · M 5.95 km NNW of Metahāra, EthiopiaUSGS
- January 4, 2025Earthquake · M 5.752 km N of Āwash, Ethiopia · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 3, 2025Earthquake · M 5.545 km NNE of Āwash, EthiopiaUSGS
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 are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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