Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Provincial Emergency Program
Earthquakes are common in BC and more than 1,200 are recorded each year across the province.
The coast of BC is considered to be a high-risk earthquake zone. In this region, tectonic plates are moving apart, sliding past one another and colliding. It is the movement of these plates that causes small earthquakes (daily), potentially damaging earthquakes (decades apart), and some of the world’s largest earthquakes (centuries apart). Earthquakes strike without warning, so it is important to act now to get prepared.