Main Ethiopian Rift
Ethiopia · continental rift · 3172.5 km of mapped active fault in 54 traces
background as of 7 November 2026.
consistent with baseline
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 1 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 0.12 |
| Rate against normal | 8.33x |
| Largest | M4.5 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 44 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 1.47 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 3172.5 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 54 |
| Tectonic setting | continental rift |
| Slip types | Normal |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 50.0 km |
| Extent | 6.24 to 10.13 latitude, 36.72 to 40.97 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 3 significant earthquakes attributed to this system since 1906.
The deadliest was the 4 January 2025 magnitude 5.7 earthquake (Ethiopia: Afar, Oromia, Amahara), which killed 2 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 6.5, on 25 August 1906 (Ethiopia: Langano).
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 January 2025 | magnitude 5.7 earthquake | Ethiopia: Afar, Oromia, Amahara | 2 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 25 August 1906 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | Ethiopia: Langano | damage under $1 million |
| 16 December 2010 | magnitude 5.1 earthquake | Ethiopia: Jima, Hosa'ina, Shenk'ola, Wenjela | damage $1 to 5 million |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
Where these numbers come from
Fault geometry, length and segment counts: GEM Global Active Faults Database (GEM GAF-DB), GEM Foundation, https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0. Figures derived from it here are offered under the same licence. Earthquake counts, magnitudes and depths: United States Geological Survey, public domain. The activity judgement is ours, computed from those two inputs, and is not a statement by either agency.