Earthquakes in Tanzania through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 7 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Tanzania. The strongest was a magnitude 7 on July 8, 1919 (17 km SSW of Sumbawanga, Tanzania).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.6 on October 16 (41 km NNE of Kilimatinde, Tanzania). The strongest: magnitude 4.6 on October 14 (42 km NNE of Kilimatinde, Tanzania).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 5.9 on September 10, 2016 (Lake Victoria; Uganda: Rakai), for which NOAA records 23 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 9 here, back to 1800. NOAA records deaths in 7 of the events here, 47 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.5 on March 21, 2019 (54 km E of Sumbawanga, Tanzania). NOAA’s record here begins in 1800 with an eruption (Kyejo). It grows thinner going back: 7 of the 9 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists one tsunami from elsewhere that reached Tanzania with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 3.5 m, on December 26, 2004. The deadliest here came on December 26, 2004 from a magnitude 9.1 earthquake (Off W. Coast Of Sumatra): NOAA’s runup records count 13 deaths in Tanzania. NOAA lists 5 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes in or off Tanzania. The largest was Lengai, Ol Doinyo on August 14, 1966, at 4 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- March 21, 2019Earthquake · M 5.554 km E of Sumbawanga, Tanzania · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 10, 2016Earthquake · M 5.9Lake Victoria; Uganda: Rakai · 23 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 5, 2005Earthquake · M 6.876 km ESE of Kalemie, Democratic Republic of the Congo · 6 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 26, 2004Tsunami · 3.5 m hereOff W. Coast Of Sumatra · 13 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 18, 2002Earthquake · M 5.5Bunda · 2 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- October 2, 2000Earthquake · M 6.515 km W of Nkove, TanzaniaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 14, 1966Eruption · VEI 4Lengai, Ol DoinyoNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 7, 1964Earthquake · M 6.528 km W of Dongobesh, Tanzania · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 8, 1919Earthquake · M 7.017 km SSW of Sumbawanga, TanzaniaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 13, 1910Earthquake · M 6.939 km WSW of Karema, TanzaniaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- 1800Eruption · VEI 2KyejoNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Tanzania 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 Tanzania 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 Tanzania, 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