What Will Happen To Vancouver Island In A Big Earthquake

The gsc says quakes of this magnitude should happen every decade so the island is about 70 years overdue.
What will happen to vancouver island in a big earthquake. For some perspective an earthquake caused by the san andreas fault could reach 8 3 on the richter scale but a cascadia earthquake will be more like a 9 2. The last big vancouver island earthquake struck courtenay in 1946 and measured m7 3 on the richter scale. The odds of a megathrust earthquake and tsunami on vancouver island happening within the next 50 years are about one in 10 says an expert. In a big earthquake the seafloor offshore from vancouver island will be uplifted and the area along the coast will sink but at worst that sinking will only be a few meters.
It s a hypothetical magnitude 9 0 earthquake that could happen along the cascadia subduction zone a 1 000 kilometre fault line that runs from northern vancouver island to northern california. If you live very close to the beach and close to sea level then there is a possibility that your house will be flooded but no big piece of the island is going to break off. Vancouver and vancouver island lie within an area of complex geology that predisposes this coastal region to high magnitude earthquakes. When most people think of the big one they often think about an earthquake caused by the san andreas fault.
Victoria can expect a tsunami wave of between. The main shock epicenter occurred in the forbidden plateau area northwest of courtenay while most of the large earthquakes in the vancouver area occur at tectonic plate boundaries the 1946 vancouver island earthquake. That means that the quake could shake. However there s actually a more dangerous fault called the cascadia subduction zone the cascadia subduction zone also known as the cascadia fault is almost 700 miles long and stretches the west coast of north america from vancouver island to northern california.
She says if a similar earthquake occurs now people living along the outer coast of vancouver island will have between 15 and 20 minutes to escape. The 1946 vancouver island earthquake struck vancouver island on the coast of british columbia canada on june 23 at 10 15 a m. The real big one the one that keeps engineers awake at night is actually a magnitude 7 0 crustal earthquake with an epicentre close to victoria and vancouver. With a magnitude estimated at 7 0 m s and 7 5 m w.