Earthquakes in Vancouver

Vancouver faces a high long-term seismic risk that makes it one of the most earthquake-exposed cities in Canada. Just offshore lies the Cascadia subduction zone, a 1,000-kilometre fault where the Juan de Fuca plate slides beneath North America. This zone is capable of generating a magnitude 9 megathrust earthquake, the so-called 'Big One,' alongside more frequent shallow crustal and deeper intraslab quakes that also threaten the region around the Strait of Georgia.

Geological evidence shows Cascadia last ruptured in a great earthquake on 26 January 1700, an event dated precisely from an 'orphan tsunami' recorded in Japan and from Indigenous oral histories along the coast. With these massive quakes recurring roughly every few hundred years on average, scientists warn Vancouver is well within the window for another. Much of the city rests on soft delta sediments prone to liquefaction, driving major investments in seismic retrofitting and preparedness planning.