Hawassa Zuria is a woreda in Sidama Region, Ethiopia. Located in the Great Rift Valley, Hawassa Zuria is bordered on the south by Shebedino and Boricha, on the west and north by the Oromia Region, and on the east by Wondo Genet. Town of Hawassa and woredas of Wondo Genet and Malga were separated from former Awasa woreda. The rest of this woreda was renamed for Hawassa Zuria (Greater Awasa).
This woreda almost surrounds Lake Awasa on all sides. Another water feature is Lake Chelaka which has vanished into the neighboring wetlands due to deforestation. The forest cover in the area partly covered by this woreda has decreased from 48,924 hectares (or 16%) in 1972 to an estimated 8600 (or 2.8%) in 2000, all caused by the creation of farmland, part of a process that has been underway for the last few hundred years.[1]