Uganda

Earthquakes in Uganda, 1927–2026

From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in Uganda. The strongest was a magnitude 6.5 on June 30, 1952 (53 km N of Rukungiri, Uganda).

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.

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.2 on February 5, 1994 (13 km SSW of Bundibugyo, Uganda), for which NOAA records 9 deaths. 2 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 14 in all.

The events

  • February 5, 1994Earthquake · M 6.213 km SSW of Bundibugyo, Uganda · 9 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
  • June 30, 1952Earthquake · M 6.553 km N of Rukungiri, UgandaUSGS
  • March 18, 1945Earthquake · M 6.424 km SW of Sembabule, Uganda · 5 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Uganda when it began inside its borders. Damage can reach across them.
  • 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 Uganda, 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

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