Large Historical U.S. Earthquakes

 

I was doing some research for another article and found this interactive page in Wikipedia. I was surprised that a 9.2 Earthquake hit northern California to Vancouver Island in Canada in 17001700 Cascadia earthquake, for example. The second quake that surprised me is what was called1868 Hayward earthquake, which was known until 1906 as the San Francisco quake and only changed when San Francisco was destroyed in 19061906 San Francisco earthquake. You can see if you wish below the interactive earthquake page of all the major quakes in the U.S. from about 1700 on. Another bit of good news is that no one has died in a California Earthquake since 2003. begin quote from Wikipedia.

 

List of earthquakes in the United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following is a list of notable earthquakes which had their epicenter in areas that are now part of the United States.

Date	State	Magnitude	Fatalities	Further information
January 26, 1700		8.7 - 9.2		1700 Cascadia earthquake
November 18, 1755	Massachusetts(then Massachusetts Bay Colony	5.9		1755 Cape Ann earthquake
December 16, 1811	Missouri	7.2 - 8.1		1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes
January 9, 1857	California	7.9	2	1857 Fort Tejon earthquake
April 24, 1867	Kansas	5.1		1867 Manhattan earthquake
April 2, 1868	Hawaii	7.9	77	1868 Hawaii earthquake
October 21, 1868	California	6.8 - 7.0	30	1868 Hayward earthquake
December 14, 1872	Washington	6.5 - 7.0		1872 North Cascades earthquake
March 26, 1872	California	7.6 - 8.0+	27	1872 Lone Pine earthquake
August 31, 1886	South Carolina	7.3	60-110	1886 Charleston earthquake
April 18, 1906	California	7.9	3000+	1906 San Francisco earthquake
September 27, 1909	Indiana	5.1		1909 Wabash River earthquake
October 3, 1915	Nevada	7.1		1915 Pleasant Valley earthquake
August 16, 1931	Texas	5.8	0	1931 Valentine earthquake
March 10, 1933	California	6.4	120	1933 Long Beach earthquake
May 18, 1940	California	6.9	9	1940 El Centro earthquake
December 20, 1940	New Hampshire	5.5		1940 New Hampshire earthquake
April 1, 1946	Alaska	7.8	165	1946 Aleutian Islands earthquake
May 6, 1947	Wisconsin	Unknown	0	1947 Wisconsin earthquake
December 4, 1948	California	6.0 - 6.5	0	1948 Desert Hot Springs earthquake
April 13, 1949	Washington	7.1	8	1949 Olympia earthquake
July 21, 1952	California	7.5	14	1952 Kern County earthquake
March 9, 1957	Alaska	8.6	0	1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake
July 9, 1958	Alaska	8.3	5	1958 Lituya Bay earthquakes
August 17, 1959	Montana, Wyoming	7.3 - 7.5	28+	1959 Yellowstone earthquake
March 27, 1964	Alaska	9.2	143	1964 Alaska earthquake
February 4, 1965	Alaska	8.7	0	1965 Rat Islands earthquake
April 29, 1965	Washington	6.5	3	1965 Olympia earthquake
November 9, 1968	Illinois	5.4	0	1968 Illinois earthquake
October 2, 1969	California	5.6 - 5.7	1	1969 Santa Rosa earthquakes
February 9, 1971	California	6.6	65	1971 San Fernando earthquake
July 9, 1975	Minnesota	4.6	0	1975 Morris earthquake
May 2, 1983	California	6.5	0	1983 Coalinga earthquake
October 28, 1983	Idaho	7.3	2	1983 Borah Peak earthquake
April 24, 1984	California	6.2	0	1984 Morgan Hill earthquake
October 1, 1987	California	5.9	8	1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake
October 17, 1989	California	6.9	63	1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
April 25–26, 1992	California	6.5 - 7.2	0	1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes
June 28, 1992	California	7.3	3	1992 Landers earthquake
June 28, 1992	California	6.5	0	1992 Big Bear earthquake
March 25, 1993	Oregon	5.6	0	1993 Scotts Mills earthquake
January 17, 1994	California	6.7	33	1994 Northridge earthquake
April 14, 1995	Texas	5.7	0	1995 Marathon earthquake
May 2, 1996	Washington	5.6	0	1996 Duvall earthquake
September 25, 1998	Pennsylvania	5.2	0	1998 Pymatuning earthquake
October 16, 1999	California	7.1	0	1999 Hector Mine earthquake
February 28, 2001	Washington	6.8	1	2001 Nisqually earthquake
November 3, 2002	Alaska	7.9	0	2002 Denali earthquake
April 29, 2003	Alabama	4.6	0	2003 Alabama earthquake
December 9, 2003	Virginia	4.5	0	2003 Virginia earthquake
December 22, 2003	California	6.5	2	2003 San Simeon earthquake
September 10, 2006	Florida	5.8	0	2006 Gulf of Mexico earthquake
October 15, 2006	Hawaii	6.7	0	2006 Hawaii earthquake
October 30, 2007	California	5.6	0	2007 Alum Rock earthquake
December 19, 2007	Alaska	7.2	0	2007 Andreanof Islands earthquake
April 18, 2008	Illinois	5.4	0	2008 Illinois earthquake
July 29, 2008	California	5.5	0	2008 Chino Hills earthquake
January 9, 2010	California	6.5	0	2010 Eureka earthquake
February 10, 2010	Illinois	3.8	0	2010 Illinois earthquake
July 7, 2010	California	5.4	0	2010 Borrego Springs earthquake
December 30, 2010	Indiana	3.8	0	2010 Indiana earthquake
August 22, 2011	Colorado	5.3	0	2011 Colorado earthquake
August 23, 2011	Virginia	5.8	0	2011 Virginia earthquake
September 2, 2011	Alaska	6.8	0	2011 Alaska earthquake
November 5, 2011	Oklahoma	5.6	0	2011 Oklahoma earthquake

[edit] External links

• List of historic U.S. earthquakes at the United States Geological Survey
• Earthquake data at the National Geophysical Data
• end quote from Wikipedia.

Also,  if you live in California you can sort of get some idea by plotting the places and times of each large quake, of where the next quake might occur. Because once stress is removed from one area likely it will hit another place with stress next. But as stress releases it usually means that area might be safe from big ones for up to 20 to 40 years or so. However, in the end it is all a guessing game unless you are a trained seismologist or vulcanologist. And even then it is not a perfect science for predicting earthquakes or volcanoes yet.