.
The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed a 5.1 magnitude earthquake Sunday morning, with an epicenter in Sparta, NC., and ripples felt as far away as Raleigh.
Sunday’s earthquake is the largest in North Carolina since 1916, when a 5.2 magnitude quake hit Skyland in Buncombe County.
The earthquake happened at 8:07 a.m. on the border of North Carolina and Virginia near the town of Sparta, said Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado.
“This earthquake was a magnitude of 5.1 on a 10-point scale,” Baldwin told The News & Observer Sunday morning. “The information center received more than 6,000 of reports of the earthquake in a 200-mile radius that touches seven states.”
There were no significant reports of damage immediately following the earthquake, but a journalist with WGHP, a Fox affiliate in Greensboro, tweeted photos of damage from inside a home in Sparta. Cabinet doors stood open and glassware was shown shattered on the floor in multiple rooms of the home.
“There is a good chance there will be aftershocks,” Baldwin said, which can sometimes continue for a week or two and generally diminish over time.
The chance of an earthquake with a magnitude of 3 or higher is 58% and one that is 5 or higher is 5%, according to the USGS. The chance of one with a magnitude of 6 or higher is 1 in 200, according to the USGS.
Over the past day there were several foreshocks that were smaller and felt within 15 miles of where the earthquake occurred. An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.6 was reported around 2 a.m. in the Sparta area, according to the USGS.
“Now you get earthquakes all the time,” he said. “You get them anywhere and you get them fairly frequently in the southeast margins of the mountains there.
“Earthquakes are common, but getting the sizable ones are not quite as common,” Baldwin said.
CONTINUED:
The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed a 5.1 magnitude earthquake Sunday morning, with an epicenter in Sparta, NC., and ripples felt as far away as Raleigh.
Sunday’s earthquake is the largest in North Carolina since 1916, when a 5.2 magnitude quake hit Skyland in Buncombe County.
The earthquake happened at 8:07 a.m. on the border of North Carolina and Virginia near the town of Sparta, said Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado.
“This earthquake was a magnitude of 5.1 on a 10-point scale,” Baldwin told The News & Observer Sunday morning. “The information center received more than 6,000 of reports of the earthquake in a 200-mile radius that touches seven states.”
There were no significant reports of damage immediately following the earthquake, but a journalist with WGHP, a Fox affiliate in Greensboro, tweeted photos of damage from inside a home in Sparta. Cabinet doors stood open and glassware was shown shattered on the floor in multiple rooms of the home.
“There is a good chance there will be aftershocks,” Baldwin said, which can sometimes continue for a week or two and generally diminish over time.
The chance of an earthquake with a magnitude of 3 or higher is 58% and one that is 5 or higher is 5%, according to the USGS. The chance of one with a magnitude of 6 or higher is 1 in 200, according to the USGS.
Over the past day there were several foreshocks that were smaller and felt within 15 miles of where the earthquake occurred. An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.6 was reported around 2 a.m. in the Sparta area, according to the USGS.
“Now you get earthquakes all the time,” he said. “You get them anywhere and you get them fairly frequently in the southeast margins of the mountains there.
“Earthquakes are common, but getting the sizable ones are not quite as common,” Baldwin said.
CONTINUED:
Last edited:
