The Strongest 8.0+ Earthquakes to Strike North America

A magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck the Alaska Peninsula in the early morning. While no deaths were reported, the quake did generate a small tsunami that reached as far as Port San Luis, California. Scientists commented that its depth – it took place about 20 miles beneath the ocean floor – and the sparse population in the immediate area helped mitigate potential damage and casualties.

In the pre-dawn hours, El Colomo, a small town about three miles east of Manzanillo in the state of Colima, was rocked by a magnitude 8 earthquake. The seismic event caused significant damage to the city of Colima and Jalisco, about 100 miles to the north, with landslides blocking roads between Guadalajara and Manzanillo. The disaster resulted in 49 fatalities, 100 injured, and close to 1,000 homeless. The quake was felt by people in high-rise buildings as far as Dallas, Houston, and Oklahoma City.

In 1986, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake caused significant damage in Adak and Atka, Alaska. A subsequent small tsunami generated wave heights ranging from two to four feet at various locations in Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington state, and as high as 10 feet in Hawaii, 4,000 miles from the epicenter. Although buildings and structures were damaged in Adak, no deaths were reported, due in large part to the remote location of the quake and the region’s sparse population.

Striking a coastal area with a magnitude of 8.0, this 1985 earthquake caused catastrophic damage in Mexico City and numerous central Mexican states, and ranks among the world’s deadliest earthquakes. It claimed at least 9,500 lives – although some sources place the death toll as high as 35,000 – as well as injuring approximately 30,000 individuals and displacing over 100,000 people. About 60% of the buildings in Ciudad Guzmán, in the state of Jalisco, were destroyed and total damages amounted to over $3 billion.

This magnitude 8.7 earthquake rippling through the Rat Islands triggered a tsunami, causing minor flooding in Amchitka and Shemya, with wave heights reaching 30 to 35 feet along Shemya’s southern shore. Despite the damage to buildings and roads, there were no reported casualties.

Known as the Good Friday or Great Alaska Earthquake, this catastrophic magnitude 9.2 quake shook Prince William Sound, Alaska. As the second-largest earthquake anywhere in the world since 1900, it caused immense devastation, leading to 128 fatalities. Of these, 113 died due to the tsunami triggered by the quake, while 15 perished in the earthquake itself. The tragedy also resulted in billions of dollars in property loss, especially in Anchorage, which lies 75 miles northwest of the epicenter.

This 1957 earthquake occurred in the Aleutian Trench off the Andreanof Islands. While it caused severe damage on nearby Adak Island, no casualties were reported. The subsequent tsunami, however, reached heights of 98 feet and traveled as far as Chile and Japan. It caused over $57 million worth of damage (in today’s dollars) in the Hawaiian Islands, mostly on Oahu and Kauai, where it destroyed multiple villages.

On August 22, 1949, Canada experienced its largest earthquake since 1700, with a magnitude of 8.0 in the Haida Gwaii archipelago (then known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) off the coast of British Columbia. The shaking was severe, causing landslides, knocking people and cows off their feet, breaking windows, and toppling chimneys. The quake was also felt throughout southeastern Alaska. Remarkably, there were no direct casualties.

This offshore earthquake did little direct damage but triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami that destroyed the Scotch Cap Lighthouse on Unimak Island in the Aleutians, killing all five lighthouse keepers, and caused $424 million (in today’s dollars) in damage to the Hawaiian Islands. Casualties included 159 people in Hawaii and one in California.

Affecting a largely aquatic area, this magnitude 8.2 quake rattled the seas east of the Shumagin Islands. The tremors were felt on Unimak Island and in Anchorage, while a small tsunami reached Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. Luckily, the land areas impacted were sparsely settled and minimal damage was reported.

A devastating earthquake of magnitude 8.1 struck near Tonaya, causing significant damage and loss of life in Jalisco, Colima, and Nayarit. At least 400 people died in Mexico and Guatemala, and 120 people were injured. Over 200 homes in Colima were damaged or destroyed, and a subsequent tsunami also caused destruction in the area. This quake was the first of several to rock the region in June of 1932, all of magnitude 7 or above.

This intraplate earthquake in the Rat Islands, an uninhabited stretch of the Aleutians, caused no reported damage or deaths. Despite the event’s intensity, both its extreme depth and its distance from inhabited areas helped prevent widespread destruction. The strongest earthquake recorded anywhere since 1900, which struck the Chilean coastal city of Valdivia with a force of 9.5, came just half an hour after the Rat Islands quake, but the concurrence is thought to have been coincidental.