Earthquake

Earthquake Summary

The earthquake hazard in Morrow County has been evaluated by the State and the USGS. There are no identified fault lines lying in the County but residents have felt shaking from nearby fault activity and new fault lines have been discovered not far away to the north in Washington State. Still, a major earthquake hazard event has been determined to have a small likelihood of occurrence in Morrow County. 

Earthquake History and Location in Morrow County

The Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network records roughly 1,000 earthquakes per year in Washington and Oregon. Between one and two dozen of these cause enough ground shaking to be felt by residents. Most are located on the western side of the Cascade Mountains. This part of Oregon has experienced four historic earthquakes of significance that were centered in the eastern Oregon region: the 1893 Umatilla earthquake, the 1936 Milton-Freewater earthquake, the 1951 Hermiston earthquake, and the 1976 Deschutes Valley earthquake. All were shallow crustal earthquakes. There are also identified faults in the region that have been active in the last 20,000 years. The region has also been shaken historically by crustal and intra plate earthquakes and prehistorically by subduction zone earthquakes centered outside the area.