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Earthquakes recorded near Tofino lately, from Earthquakes Canada — with the Cascadia story and what to do when the shaking is long or strong.
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The coast here moves — most weeks a few small earthquakes are recorded off Vancouver Island that nobody feels. This page shows what the ground has actually been doing lately, from Canada's national seismograph network. For what to do when a big one hits, the Tsunami: Where to Go page is the one to know by heart.
Strongest in this window
M5.5
258 km west of Tofino · Not reported ·
37 earthquakes of magnitude M2.5 or larger within 300 km of town in the last 30 days.
| Magnitude | Where | Depth | Shaking | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M3.0 | 262 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.2 | 270 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.9 | 261 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.2 | 263 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.2 | 264 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.6 | 238 km northeast | 12 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.0 | 263 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.2 | 278 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.3 | 278 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.1 | 276 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M2.8 | 274 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported | |
| M3.0 | 273 km west | 10 km deep | Not reported |
This page is not an earthquake warning
Long or strong? Get gone.
Tofino sits beside the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the undersea fault where the ocean floor slides beneath North America, running from mid Vancouver Island to northern California. It last fully ruptured on 26 January 1700, in one of the world's largest recorded earthquakes — the fault broke along roughly 1,000 km and the tsunami it raised swept the outer coast, destroying the Pachena Bay winter village south of here, and crossed the Pacific to Japan, whose written records let scientists date the event to the day.
The strongest onshore earthquake in Canada's recorded history also happened on this island: a magnitude 7.3 quake under the Forbidden Plateau area near Courtenay on 23 June 1946, which knocked down three-quarters of the chimneys in nearby communities and was felt across Vancouver Island.
Most of what this page lists is far smaller: quakes off the west coast on the faults that surround the subduction zone. As a rule of thumb from Earthquakes Canada, anything under about magnitude 3.5 is recorded on seismographs but generally not felt, and quakes between 3.5 and 5.4 are often felt but rarely cause damage. A quiet month here is normal — and so is a busy one.
Checked August 23 at 6:50 p.m.. Earthquake data from Earthquakes Canada (Natural Resources Canada / Earthquakes Canada, Open Government Licence – Canada). Magnitude, depth and felt intensity are revised as analysis improves, and very fresh quakes can take minutes to appear.
Strongest lately: M5.5
258 km W of town