Satellites capture aftermath of Ethiopian volcano's 1st eruption in recorded history (images)

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Hayli Gubbi volcano in Northern Ethiopia erupted on Sunday (Nov. 23) for the first time in nearly 12,000 years, causing havoc in villages nearby. Satellite imagery detailed billowing plumes of pale ash stretching across the arid region.

Before Sunday, the volcano's last known eruption roughly coincided with the beginning of our current Holocene Epoch, when the last ice age came to close after 2.6 million years.

No deaths have been reported from Hayli Gubbi's eruption, but villages located in the remote district of Afdera became caked in ash, impacting both homes and livestock, AP reports.

Abedella Mussa, a health official for the Afdera district, told AP that mobile medicinal services were dispatched from the Afar region to help the kebeles (neighborhoods) impacted by the eruption.

The massive clouds of ash that erupted 8.7 miles (14 km) into the sky drifted to Pakistan and Northern India, causing flight cancellations for a few days during the week, and began moving toward China.

Atalay Ayele, a seismologist and researcher at the Institute of Geophysics, Space Science and Astronomy at Addis Ababa University, told Reuters that Ethiopia is home to about 50 active volcanoes.

"At any time, these volcanoes can be active or can show manifestations of activity," Ayele said in the Reuters report.

While there were no scientific forecasts for the event, locals told Al Jazeera reporters that they had noticed a little smoke coming from Hayli Gubbi in the days leading up to the eruption.

Hayli Gubbi's eruption isn’t the first time Ethiopia has seen volcanic activity this year. Erta Ale volcano in the Afar region, known for decades of continuous volcanic activity that has created an ongoing lava lake, saw reports of a dense black cloud rising from the volcano in mid-July 2025.

Hayli Gubbi’s activity this week has reportedly ceased as of Friday (Nov. 28).