Casualties Directly Caused by an Earthquake in Canada: First Contemporaneous Written Accounts from the M 6.5 Charlevoix, Quebec, Earthquake of 20 October 1870

Abstract

Abstract This article documents what appear to be the only deaths directly caused by an earthquake in Canada since European settlement. Canadian earthquakes are known to have caused many cases of indirect casualties (drownings from earthquake-triggered submarine slumps, heart attacks, etc.). However, direct casualties had never been documented before the close examination of the reports from the 20 October 1870, M 6.5 Charlevoix earthquake. The information contained in available documents from that time period converges to two direct casualties in the Les Eboulements area, very close to the epicenter. Reports of casualties in the Quebec City newspapers, the death registry in Les Eboulements, and the intense damage suffered by the houses of the residents point towards two children being killed during, or slightly after, the earthquake. This area of Les Eboulements is not an area of deep unconsolidated deposits, suggesting a possible directivity or focusing effect for the strong ground motions.