Home Research Emergency management Natural Hazards of Canada Earthquakes Significant earthquakes of the 19th and 20th centuries

Significant earthquakes of the 19th and 20th centuries

All damage figures are in year 2000 dollars

1 1989 Magnitude: 6.3 map
Ungava Peninsula, QC / December / First earthquake in
eastern North America confirmed to have produced surface faulting.

2 1988 Magnitude: 6.0 map
Saguenay region, QC / November / Felt in a 1,000-km radius from epicentre. Damage at Jonquière, Chicoutimi, La Baie, Québec and as far away as Montréal.

3 1985 Magnitude: 6.9 map
Nahanni region, NWT / December / Widely felt in NWT, Alberta and BC. A smaller event (magnitude 6.6) in the same area two months earlier triggered an avalanche containing five to seven million cubic metres of rock.

4 1979 Magnitude: 7.2 map
Yukon-Alaska border / February / Felt strongly in Canada, minor property damage in the Yukon.

5 1970 Magnitude: 7.4 map
South of Queen Charlotte Islands, BC / June / Widely felt.

6 1958 Magnitude: 7.9 map
Alaska-British Columbia border / July / People killed and much damage in Alaska. Parts of North-western B.C. and Southern Yukon strongly shaken.

7 1949 Magnitude: 8.1 map
Off the Queen Charlotte Islands, BC / August / Felt over a wide area of western North America. Canada's largest earthquake. Some damage on Queen Charlotte Islands.

8 1946 Magnitude: 7.3 map
Vancouver Island, BC / June / Widely felt. Extensive damage along the east coast of Vancouver Island; one person drowned.

9 1944 Magnitude: 5.6 map
Eastern Ontario-New York border / September / Widely felt. Damage at Cornwall, ON.

10 1935 Magnitude: 6.2 map
Quebec-Ontario border / November / Felt over much of eastern Canada. Minor damage at Temiscaming, QC and North Bay and Mattawa, ON.

11 1933 Magnitude: 7.3 map
Baffin Bay / November / Largest earthquake ever known north of the Arctic Circle

12 1925 Magnitude: 6.7 map
Charlevoix-Kamouraska region, QC / March / Widely felt. Considerable damage along the St. Lawrence River near the epicentre and some damage at Québec, Trois-Rivières and Shawinigan.

13 1918 Magnitude: 6.9 map
Vancouver Island, BC / December / Widely felt, some minor damage near Estevan Point.

14 1918 Magnitude: 6.0 map
Revelstoke, BC / February / Felt in the BC interior.

15 1909 Magnitude: 6.0 map
Near south end of Strait of Georgia at a depth of about 65 km / January / Strongly felt in Canada, damage in U. S.

16 1899 Magnitude: 7.9 map
Yukon-Alaska border / September / First of three great earthquakes in this region in the space of eight days. Strong effects experienced in many parts of northern British Columbia and southern Yukon.

17 1872 Magnitude: 7.4 map
Washington-BC border / December / Widely felt.

18 1870 Magnitude: 6.5 map
Charlevoix-Kamouraska region, QC / October / Widely felt. Minor damage at Baie-Saint-Paul.

19 1860 Magnitude: 6.0 map
Charlevoix-Kamouraska region, QC / October / Widely felt. Minor damage at Rivière-Ouelle.

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