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While Californians ran for cover during a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck the northern region on Thursday, America has endured even stronger quakes throughout its history.
The largest earthquake ever to hit the continental US struck the Cascadia Subduction Zone—a fault line off the Pacific coast of the Pacific Northwest—on January 26, 1700.
This quake, estimated at a magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, triggered a tsunami that struck the west coast of North America and even reached the coast of Japan.
The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning for the west coast following Thursday’s quake, but the warning has since been canceled.
While the California quake broke water mains, shattered windows, and knocked out power for more than 10,000 residents, it pales in comparison to many seismic events in America’s history.
Oral accounts from Native American tribes on the coast of Vancouver Island in 1700 describe an earthquake and tsunami that wiped out all low-lying settlements.
The only survivors were those who lived at least 75 feet above the waterline.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the coast of Northern California Thursday, with the epicenter located in Humboldt County, but California and the rest of the US have seen larger quakes
The National Weather Service had issued a tsunami warning for the west coast following Thursday’s quake, but it has since been canceled
Another devastating period of seismic activity occurred 115 years after the 1700 Cascadia earthquake when the New Madrid Fault Zone unleashed its fury in the Midwest.
This fault zone stretches 150 miles, crossing parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.
In 1811 and 1812, it produced a trio of powerful jolts—measuring magnitudes between 7.5 and 7.7—that shook the central Mississippi River Valley.
Historical records indicate that between 100 and 500 people lost their lives over the course of the year.
While California assesses the damage from Thursday’s 7.0-magnitude quake, the state previously experienced a magnitude 7.9 event hundreds of years ago: the Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857.
Fort Tejon, California, a former U.S. Army outpost intermittently active between 1854 and 1864, was occupied at the time of the quake.
Violent shaking lasted one to three minutes, causing significant property loss.
Two buildings were declared unsafe, while three others sustained extensive damage but were still deemed habitable. Several others experienced moderate damage.
One person died when an adobe house collapsed in nearby Gorman.
This quake was between magnitude 8.7 and 9.2 and caused a tsunami that struck the west coast of North America and the coast of Japan (pictured)
The largest earthquake in US history occurred in Charleston, South Carolina – pictured here showing the horrific damage that ensued
The earthquake’s impact was felt over a wide area, including densely populated cities such as Los Angeles.
In downtown Los Angeles, strong shaking was recorded, cracking some homes and buildings. However, no major damage was reported.
One Los Angeles resident, an elderly man, may have collapsed and died due to the quake, though the report was not officially confirmed.
Two years later, the 1873 Oregon-California earthquake struck.
This 7.3-magnitude quake cracked the ground along the trail between Crescent City and Gasquet, toppling all chimneys in the area.
The largest earthquake to hit the East Coast in recorded history occurred in 1886, when a 7.3-magnitude quake devastated Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1964, another magnitude 9.2 earthquake struck Anchorage, Alaska. This event is known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake
The quake killed 60 people and caused substantial damage to nearly every structure in the the city, with additional destruction reaching as far as central Ohio.
The financial toll was an estimated $5 to $6 million at the time, amounting to a whopping nearly $2 billion today.
More than a century later, in 1964, a powerful magnitude 9.2 earthquake struck Anchorage, Alaska, which is known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake.
It remains the second-most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the world.
The monster quake struck a fault between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, with the rupture occurring near College Fjord in Prince William Sound.
Violent shaking lasted for more than four minutes, triggering multiple tsunamis and causing severe property and infrastructure damage.
Anchorage sustained significant destruction to homes, buildings, paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems and other structures.
Total damages were estimated to cost more than $45 million, and more than 131 people died across south-central Alaska due to ground fissures, collapsing structures and tsunamis.
Alaska frequently endures major earthquakes due to the subduction of the Pacific plate underneath Alaska, which occurs as the Pacific plate moves under the North American plate at a rate of two to three inches per year.
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