March 29, 1969 Earthquake: Sardo, Ethiopia

1969 Mar 29, 09:15:53.54 UTC, 11.875 N 41.208 E, magnitude 6.2 Mw. [Note: Nearby earthquakes of magnitude 6.08 Mw and 5.37 Mw occurred the same day at 11:04 and 13:08 UTC, respectively]

March 29, 1969, Ethiopia. A destructive earthquake in Ethiopia, followed by a number of equally strong aftershocks, completely destroyed Sardo, the only large village in the Danakil desert, killing 24 of its 420 inhabitants and injuring 167. Heavy damage was confined within a radius of about 25 km of Sardo, where the few masonry and adobe houses were heavily damaged or destroyed, while the nomads' timber-framed huts suffered relatively little damage. In all, 40 people were killed and 160 were injured by the shocks of 29 March and 5 April which caused severe damage to road embankments and bridges along the road from Assab to Dessie in the vicinity of Sardo. These shocks triggered a few rockfalls from steep slopes up to 30 km from Sardo and they were associated with a discontinuous and incompletely mapped fau1tbreak that passes 8 km east of Sardo. This feature is about 15 km long and strikes N. 335 deg E, showing left-lateral displacements of about 60 cm with a throw to the northeast of 75 cm. The earthquake was strongly felt at Assab and Combolcia and it was felt by a few people at the port of Aden. Slight shocks reported from Djibouti and al-Mukha may belong to the same event. (reference #3845)

March 29, 1969, Ethiopia, 24 killed, 165 injured, $0.32 million damage. (reference #1250)

March 29, 1969, Ethiopia, 25 deaths. (reference #1051)

The epicentre of this event was less than 100 km from the Djibouti–Ethiopia border in western Djibouti. It had a magnitude of M6.3. This event destroyed completely the Serdo village located close to the epicentre and resulted in the loss of 40 people and in injuries to 160 people (Gouin, 1979). Most of the masonry type structures were destroyed but the lighter structures made of wood actually survived. Cracks, fissures, landslides, and subsidence were observed on the ground in different sites. An aftershock of magnitude Ms6.2 occurred at the same place a few days later triggering rockslides over a large area. Over 250 more aftershocks were recorded at the WWSSN station in Addis Ababa with two reaching Mb5.2 (Gouin, 1979). (reference #13028)

The Afar depression in Ethiopia was the site of several destructive earthquakes in March and April 1969. According to Gouin, the epicentres were aligned in an east-west direction along latitude 12° N., between longitudes 41.11 ° E. and 41.18° E. The earthquake of 29 March (597) caused destruction at Sardo oasis; 25 persons were killed, mostly children; 170 persons were injured, some of whom died later. The village, which had been built around 1936, consisted mainly of masonry houses with reinforced concrete joists and floors; the complete destruction of these houses was due to the absence of proper ties; in contrast, the nomads' huts built of bamboo, with roofs of corrugated iron on rafters, stood up much better. Near Sardo, there was severe damage to bridges and embankments along the road from Assab to Dessye. The earthquake of 5 April (600) caused surface faulting 8 km east of Sardo, with a throw of 70 cm vertically and about 50 em horizontally [87, 88, 89]. (reference #1039)