Malawi Rift
Malawi / Mozambique · continental rift · 3588.2 km of mapped active fault in 115 traces
background as of 7 November 2026.
consistent with baseline
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 0 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 0.12 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 43 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 1.43 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 3588.2 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 115 |
| Tectonic setting | continental rift |
| Slip types | Normal |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 50.0 km |
| Extent | -15.69 to -8.96 latitude, 32.95 to 35.44 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 3 significant earthquakes attributed to this system since 1989.
The deadliest was the 10 March 1989 magnitude 6.1 earthquake (Malawi: Salima, Dedza, Mohinji), which killed 9 people.
The most recent entry is the 19 December 2009 magnitude 6.0 earthquake (Malawi: Karonga), which killed 3 people.
Across the entries that record a death toll, 13 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 March 1989 | magnitude 6.1 earthquake | Malawi: Salima, Dedza, Mohinji | 9 dead, $28 million damage |
| 19 December 2009 | magnitude 6.0 earthquake | Malawi: Karonga | 3 dead, 1,111 homes destroyed, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 8 December 2009 | magnitude 5.9 earthquake | Malawi: Karonga | 1 dead, damage $5 to 25 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.