On Thursday Dec 30, 2010 at 09:17:46 AM (PDT) Oregon was hit was an earthquake.
Now before you get all stressed about it…it was only a 3.6 magnitude and by Mt. Hood.
Oregon has volcanoes; 5 of which are considered active.
The USGS keeps track of large historic earthquakes. Oregon has had 5.
•· 1910 08 05 – Oregon – M 6.8
•· 1993 09 21 – Klamath Falls, Oregon – M 6.0 Fatalities 2
•· 2002 06 29 – near Mt. Hood Volcano, Oregon – M 4.5
•· 2003 01 16 – Blanco Fracture Zone – Offshore Oregon, – M 6.3
•· 2004 07 12 – Offshore Oregon – M 4.9
Just to put this into perspective about how low this is, Illinois also had 5. I was going to compare it to California, but I lost my place counting them several times, so I stopped.
Now we do get a lot of small earthquakes here, as this recent event demonstrates, but most are not felt as they are so low on the scale. The USGS has some great earthquake information about Oregon.
If you are looking to relocate and buy home in Oregon, you do need to know that Oregon does have earthquake standards for homes that can be found in the Oregon Uniform Building Codes. Many homeowners opt to have the earthquake rider added to their homeowners insurance as well. Homeowners need to be aware that a home might have to be retrofitted to the new construction standards in order to qualify for the rider.
If you are looking to relocate to Salem Oregon from a high earthquake area, rest assured that while they happen occasionally here, you can’t feel most of them.