Are there earthquakes in Vancouver, Canada?

Q: I was wondering if there are earthquakes in Vancouver, Canada. Does Vancouver get earthquakes, and if so, how severe? Thank you.

A: The basic answer to your question is that anywhere that has mountains will have a chance of having earthquakes. The last big earthquake that I personally felt in the Vancouver area actually had an epi-centre of Seattle. There was moderate damage in Seattle and only frazzled nerves here. Vancouver can get earthquakes. As other posters have pointed out, we live on some major fault lines. In the 37+ years that I've lived around here, I've only ever felt the aforementioned earthquake. We get plenty of little quakes that only a few people feel in some areas, but we are all constantly reminded that "the big one" can hit any day. Of course this any day could be anywhere from today to 100 years from now. Another thing to consider is the geology of the Greater Vancouver region means that some areas will be more prone to feel quakes and other areas won't feel a thing. Also, if "the big one" hits, some areas are going to be more suseptable to damage than other areas. And finally, I enclosed a link that shows where the earthquakes occurred in the past month. Keep in mind that anything less than 3 on the richtor scale probably won't be felt.

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