One of the four states that originated from the Oregon Treaty of 1850, Columbia consists of the mainland (which is bounded by the 51st and 49th parallels to the north and south and the Continental Divide to the east) and Vancouver Island to the west, separated by the Vancouver Strait. Its' location on the Pacific Rim, particularly the Cascadia Subduction Zone, makes the state's population no strangers to earthquakes, which occur rather frequently, though few cause any kind of damage. The last major earthquake, a magnitude 7.3, occurred in the Forbidden Plateau region of Vancouver Island in June 1946. Columbia's capital of Parksville is located on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island in the Nanaimo-Lewis urban corridor, established by settlers in 1875 for the purpose of avoiding the more s