Earthquakes in Kenya through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Kenya. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.7 on January 6, 1928 (33 km WNW of Nyahururu, Kenya).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 4.6 on March 20, 1968 (Homa Bay, Usiri, Got Kokech), for which NOAA records one death. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 3 here, back to 1913. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 2 in all. NOAA’s record here begins on January 6, 1928 with an earthquake (33 km WNW of Nyahururu, Kenya). NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off Kenya, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 6 m, on November 5, 1930. The deadliest here came on December 26, 2004 from a magnitude 9.1 earthquake (Off W. Coast Of Sumatra): NOAA’s runup records count one death in Kenya.
The events
- December 26, 2004Tsunami · 3 m hereOff W. Coast Of Sumatra · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 20, 1968Earthquake · M 4.6Homa Bay, Usiri, Got Kokech · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- November 5, 1930EarthquakeNOAA NCEI
- November 5, 1930Tsunami · 6 m hereMombasaNOAA NCEI
- January 10, 1928Earthquake · M 6.221 km W of Kabarnet, KenyaUSGS
- January 6, 1928Earthquake · M 6.733 km WNW of Nyahururu, KenyaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 16, 1913Earthquake · M 6.147 km SSW of Lobuni, EthiopiaUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for Kenya 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 Kenya 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 Kenya, 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