Washington’s 10 Biggest Earthquakes Of The Past Four Centuries

Although earthquakes happen all over the world there are definitely some places which have a greater frequency of considerable seismic activity than others, and Washington State is certainly one of them.

Despite not being rocked nearly as much as its Pacific Coast sister in statehood, California, or other hotspots for big temblors around the globe like Japan, China or Iran, the Evergreen State has absolutely seen (and felt!) its share of hefty shakers over the years, including one of the largest earthquakes in the past 1,000 years on Planet Earth!

So let's take a look at the ten quakes with the highest Richter Scale magnitudes over the past 325 years in Washington.

#10 - VANCOUVER, 1962
Damage was only reported as minor from this magnitude 5.2 quake that struck Clark County's largest city at 7:37 p.m. on Nov. 6, but it certainly shook a lot of folks up, including in the metro Portland area in neighboring Oregon where it reportedly took down numerous chimneys and caused tall buildings to sway.

The quake caused no fatalities or injuries.

#9 - NORTH BEND, 1945
World War II was still several months away from ending and folks in the United States were still on high alert for a possible enemy invasion when this magnitude 5.5 temblor hit at 12:16 p.m. on April 29, prompting some to believe it was a bombing in progress by the Japanese army.

The quake caused minor damage and no fatalities or injuries.

#8 - SATSOP, 1999
Although small when compared with other U.S. earthquakes of the 20th Century, this magnitude 5.8 temblor which struck at 6:43 p.m. on July 2 caused significant damage to several communities on the Washington coast, especially around its epicenter in Grays Harbor County.

The quake was the largest to hit the state in over 30 years at the time and injured seven people, as well as causing $8.1 million in damage.

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#7 - SEATTLE, 1891
The Richter Scale was still over 40 years away from being a thing when this mighty quake struck the Puget Sound region at around 3:15 p.m. on Nov. 30, 1891, but seismic historians believe it would have registered somewhere between a magnitude of 6.3 and 6.7 had the scale existed at the time.

The violent shaker caused significant damage in Western Washington, some of which was the result of a seiche that occurred on Lake Washington and a small tsunami that was also reported in the region.

#6 - LAKE CHELAN, 1872
The only big shaker to make our list from Eastern Washington hit at 9:40 p.m. on Dec. 14.

The massive quake, which pre-dates the invention and use of the seismograph by over 60 years, is estimated to have been as strong as 6.5 to 7.0 on the Richter Scale.

Thankfully, the area was not heavily populated at the time, so no injuries or fatalities are known to have occurred, although some of the temblor's geological impacts can still be seen to this day.

The fault that created the earthquake is still very active and is historically known for producing a quake of similar intensity about once every 200 years.

You can read more about Eastern and North Central Washington's own chances of a "Big One" by checking out Connor's story from Townsquare Wenatchee here.

#5 - OLYMPIA, 1949
This magnitude 6.7 shaker that struck at 11:55 a.m. on April 13 is the deadliest in Washington State's history.

The quake killed eight people, including a crossing guard who saved the life of a second-grade student by shielding them from falling bricks.

In addition, 64 people suffered injuries, including two when a 23-ton cradle on the east tower of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge fell over 500 feet.

Rumblings of the earthquake were felt as far away as Montana, and it caused over $25 million (around $223 million today) in damage, including significant damage to the state capital building in Olympia.

#4 - DES MOINES, 1965
Sixteen years after the state's deadliest earthquake in history struck the Olympia area, Washington's second-deadliest shaker hit not too far to the northeast near Seattle.

The temblor happened at 8:28 a.m. on April 29 and registered the same magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter Scale. Interestingly, it was also the second significant earthquake to strike the state on April 29 in a 20-year span.

The quake killed seven people, including three who were hit by falling debris in the Duwamish valley floor area and four who succumbed to sudden heart attacks.

It also caused upwards of $28 million (about $283 million today) in damage, including severe damage at two Boeing manufacturing plants in the region and to the state capital building's dome, which experts say would have completely collapsed had a major aftershock occurred.

#3 - NISQUALLY, 2001
Known by the namesake of the delta of its epicenter between Seattle and Olympia, this earthquake which occurred at 10:54 a.m. on Feb. 28 certainly got the attention of every Washingtonian.

At 6.8 on the Richter Scale, the Nisqually was the strongest earthquake to strike an area situated over the mainland portion of the Evergreen State and not underneath its coastal waters.

The temblor was thankfully situated very deep, at 35 miles below the Earth's surface, but was still large enough to cause as much as $4 billion ($6.8 billion today) in damage and was felt for hundreds of miles.

Although no one was killed as a direct result of damage created by the quake, one person did die of a heart attack when it hit.

Had the quake occurred even half-again closer to the surface, seismologists say its impacts would have been incredibly-more substantial in terms of both damage and loss of life.

While many in the region who were near to its epicenter reportedly thought it was the long awaited "Big One", experts say the Evergreen State dodged a major bullet in the spring of 2001.

#2 - STRAIT OF GEORGIA, 1946
Although this powerful earthquake was actually centered underneath Canada's Vancouver Island, it still qualifies for our list due to its impacts in Washington State.

The quake struck at 10:15 a.m. on June 23 at a stifling magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter Scale and was felt over a thousand miles away in parts of inland British Columbia and even Western Alberta.

It also caused a fair amount of damage in Northwestern Washington around places like Seattle, Port Angeles, and the San Juan Islands, where chimneys and roofs collapsed and walls fell.

Two people were killed, including a 69-year-old man who was overtaken by a wave created by the quake, and a 50-year-old man who suffered a heart attack.

Despite its sheer power, the temblor's overall affects on the region, including Washington State, were thankfully fairly minor.

#1 - CASCADIA, 1700
Without a doubt, this is Washington State's most recent "Big One"!

This monster megathrust earthquake estimated at a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter Scale jolted everything in Creation in what is now modern-day Washington State at around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 26.

Western settlements had not reached the region at that time, but nearly every Indigenous tribe has some record of its occurrence, including several which have given an entire mythological narrative to the event.

Even though the quake itself was massive by any standard, the hulking tsunami that it created might have been even worse by comparison. Its relentless waters are thought to have reached heights of over 100 feet on the coast and traveled over 10 miles inland in some areas.

The enormous quake occurred along the growingly-notorious Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 700-mile-long dipping fault that stretches from the northern edge of Vancouver Island to Northern California under the Pacific Ocean.

In the winter of 1700, the entire fault slipped after storing up nearly 800 years of pressure and caused what is believed to be the strongest variety of earthquake that Cascadia is capable of producing.

Major quakes along the fault occur on average about every 300-500 years, meaning by the lower end of that range at least, the Pacific Northwest is overdue for another.

Scientists have given Cascadia a 37% chance of rumbling to life again at some point within the next 50 years, and an event with a similar magnitude to the 1700 quake would be nothing short of cataclysmic to not only Western Washington, but all of Western Oregon and even Northern California. Even one scientific expert is now famously-quoted as having said of such a quake happening today, "everything west of I-5 will be toast."

The tsunami produced by the 9.2 that hit 325 years ago also impacted areas thousands of miles across the Pacific in places like Japan, where records of the event can be found to this day.

Thankfully, it appears that the shorter the interval between quakes on Cascadia, the less intense they are - meaning if the fault does decide to hiccup before the end of this century, it likely would not produce an earthquake as large as the one in 1700.

Nevertheless, any sizeable quake from Cascadia is sure to have a tremendous impact on the Pacific Northwest and what its next event's magnitude will actually be is strictly up to the parts of Mother Nature that govern plate tectonics.

Needless to say, this is the fault that will almost certainly produce the "Big One" that Washingtonians have been dreading for decades now, and at 51 myself, I'm certainly hoping not to be around when it finally strikes.