Earthquakes in Canada, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 183 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off Canada. The strongest was a magnitude 6.8 on October 22, 2018 (210 km SW of Port McNeill, Canada).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.2 on September 28 (192 km WSW of Port McNeill, Canada). The strongest: magnitude 5.4 on September 28 (207 km WSW of Port McNeill, Canada).
What the record holds
One earthquake here in these years is on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records no deaths for it. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.2 on May 1, 2017 (47 km NW of Mosquito Lake, Alaska). NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began in or off Canada. The highest of them reached 170 m, on September 1, 2022.
The events
- September 15, 2024Earthquake · M 6.5271 km WNW of Port McNeill, CanadaUSGS
- July 11, 2024Earthquake · M 6.4209 km WSW of Tofino, CanadaUSGS
- September 1, 2022Tsunami · 170 m highEcstall River, BcNOAA NCEI
- October 22, 2018Earthquake · M 6.8210 km SW of Port McNeill, CanadaUSGS
- October 22, 2018Earthquake · M 6.5223 km SW of Port McNeill, CanadaUSGS
- October 22, 2018Earthquake · M 6.5237 km SW of Port McNeill, CanadaUSGS
- May 1, 2017Earthquake · M 6.247 km NW of Mosquito Lake, AlaskaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Canada when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Canada is the nearest country.
- USGS counts are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Canada, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history