The M7.3 Vancouver Island Earthquake of 1946
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Local Date and Time: June 23, 1946 at 10:13:26 am Pacific time
UT Date and Time: 1946-06-23 17:13:26 UT
Magnitude: M
S 7.3
Maximum Intensity: (
Modified Mercalli) VII-VIII
Latitude: 49.76° N
Longitude: 125.34° W
Vancouver Island's largest historic earthquake (and Canada's largest historic
onshore earthquake) was a magnitude 7.3 event that occurred at 10:13 a.m. on
Sunday June 23, 1946. The epicentre was in the Forbidden Plateau area of
central Vancouver Island, just to the west of the communities of Courtenay and Campbell River.
This earthquake caused
considerable damage on
Vancouver Island (see photos), and was felt
as far away as Portland Oregon, and Prince Rupert B.C. The earthquake knocked
down 75% of the chimneys in the closest communities, Cumberland, Union Bay,
and Courtenay and did considerable damage in Comox, Port Alberni, and Powell
River (on the eastern side of Georgia Strait). A number of chimneys were shaken
down in Victoria and people in Victoria and Vancouver were frightened - many
running into the streets. Two deaths resulted from this earthquake, one due
to drowning when a small boat capsized in an earthquake-generated wave, and
the other from a heart attack in Seattle.
Did you feel this earthquake? Do you have any photos of damage?