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.

Back to Natural Hazards of Canada main page.