Great 1700 Cascadia Earthquake Shakes Pacific Coast
A magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake ruptured the entire Cascadia Subduction Zone, generating a tsunami that devastated the Pacific Northwest coast and crossed the ocean to strike Japan ten hours later. Japanese records of the "orphan tsunami" provided the evidence that allowed modern scientists to date the event precisely to January 26, 1700. The discovery proved that the Pacific Northwest faces the same catastrophic earthquake risk as Japan, fundamentally changing seismic hazard planning for the entire region.
January 26, 1700
326 years ago
What Else Happened on January 26
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