The Afar Depression, the Main Ethiopian Rift and the Escarpments constitute the main seismic belts in Ethiopia. These regions belong to East African Rift system and their seismicity can be explained in terms of plate tectonics.
According to the theory of plate tectonics the earth’s surface may be divided into a number of rigid spherical caps whose boundaries are the seismic belts of the world. It is the relative motion between these caps, or plates, which causes earthquakes.
There are three major types of plates boundaries at which the relative motion occur. The first type is a boundary created when two plates are moving apart from one another.