Earthquakes in Yemen through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 13 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Yemen. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.7 on December 18, 1908 (170 km E of Hadibu, Yemen).
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 4.8 on September 28 (165 km NW of Kilmia, Yemen). The strongest: magnitude 5.2 on September 26 (150 km NW of Kilmia, Yemen).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.3 on December 13, 1982 (Dhamar), for which NOAA records 2,800 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 10 here, back to AD 200. NOAA records deaths in 9 of the events here, 4,201 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.7 on November 22, 1991 (Western Arabian Peninsula). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 200 with an eruption (Arhab, Harra of). It grows thinner going back: 3 of the 10 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists one tsunami from elsewhere that reached Yemen with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 6.11 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 2 deaths in Yemen. NOAA lists 4 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes in or off Yemen. The largest was Tair, Jebel at on September 30, 2007, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 7 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- September 30, 2007Eruption · VEI 3Tair, Jebel at · 7 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 26, 2004Tsunami · 6.11 m hereOff W. Coast Of Sumatra · 2 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 22, 1991Earthquake · M 4.7Western Arabian Peninsula · 11 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 13, 1982Earthquake · M 6.3Dhamar · 2,800 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 30, 1970Earthquake · M 6.6223 km N of Kilmia, YemenUSGS
- November 23, 1967Earthquake · M 6.5193 km S of Al Ghayz̧ah, YemenUSGS
- December 21, 1959Earthquake · M 6.6186 km NNW of Kilmia, YemenUSGS
- January 11, 1941Earthquake · M 6.1Razih · 1,200 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 18, 1908Earthquake · M 6.7170 km E of Hadibu, YemenUSGS
- 1358EarthquakeZabid,Sana,Adan · 61 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- AD 200EruptionArhab, Harra ofNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Yemen 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 Yemen 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 Yemen, 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