U.S./Canada
The largest earthquake to occur in the U.S./Canada region on Feb.
24 occurred in 1892 along the California-Mexico border region (Mw 6.9).
This event occurred on the evening of Feb. 23 (local time). At the Carizzo
station in San Diego County all the adobe buildings were destroyed.
In Paradise Valley a church and schoolhouse which had been built on
stilts were thrown down. Ground fissures were observed throughout the
McCain and Jewel valleys. The earthquake was followed by more than
150 strong aftershocks. Aftershocks continued on into April 1892 and
were felt as far away as San Diego Bay. The event was felt as far
away as Visalia about 700 km north of the epicenter.

WORLD

Only three earthquakes of Mw>=7 have occurred on Feb. 24 which
are listed in seismic catalogs. The two largest of these were Ml 7.7
and occurred in Ecuador in 1913 and in off the E. Coast of Kamchatka
in 1923. The third, an Mw 7.1 occurred last year (2001) in the Molucca
Sea area. None of these earthquakes was particularly damaging as they
all occurred in underpopulated regions.
The most destructive earthquake in recent times on Feb. 24 occurred
in 1981 when a Mw 6.8 hit the area of Athens-Corinth, Greece. Sixteen
were killed and more than 600 were injured. There was extensive damage
throughout the area. A strong earthquake also struck the same region
of southern Greece on Feb. 24, 1919. That event had Mw 6.4 but did not do
extensive regional damage that was recorded in seismicity catalogs.