In Ethiopia earthquakes can be strong and cause heavy damages in a circle of dozens of kilometers. Measured against the size of the country, earthquakes occur very rarely.
70 people died since 1950 by direct consequences of earthquakes.
The strongest earthquake in Ethiopia happened on 06/01/1961 in the region Karakore with a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale. The shifting of tectonic plates in a depth of 21 km resulted in 30 deaths.
Date
Region
Tiefe
Magnitude
Deaths
Total damage
12/16/2010
Jima, Hosa'ina, Shenk'ola, Wenjela
24 km
5.1
0
09/24/2005
Dabbahu
2 km
5.6
0
04/01/1973
Djibouti
37 km
5.9
0
03/29/1969
Sardo
54 km
6.2
40
06/01/1961
Karakore
21 km
6.5
30
These statistics are based on datas from the National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): Significant Earthquake Database. doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K. Several data have been summarized and translated.