Earthquakes in Ethiopia, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 23 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Ethiopia. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.4, twice: on November 30, 1937 (31 km E of Turmi, Ethiopia) and on August 21, 1989 (17 km NNE of Gâlâfi, Djibouti).
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. 7 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 203 in all. The ten years with the most magnitude 6+ earthquakes were 1937–1946, with 7 of the 23. 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, 2025EruptionHayli GubbiNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 11, 2025Earthquake · M 5.655 km NE of Mek'ele, Ethiopia · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 4, 2025Earthquake · M 5.752 km N of Āwash, Ethiopia · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 21, 1989Earthquake · M 6.417 km NNE of Gâlâfi, DjiboutiUSGS
- October 25, 1987Earthquake · M 6.328 km SSE of Jinka, EthiopiaUSGS
- 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
- September 27, 1938Earthquake · M 6.3USGS
- November 30, 1937Earthquake · M 6.431 km E of Turmi, EthiopiaUSGS
- October 4, 1928Earthquake · M 6.244 km N of Arba Minch, 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 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