An earthquake struck western North Carolina today, triggering hundreds of reports of shaking to USGS via their online “Did you feel it?” website reporting tool. USGS says a magnitude 2.7 earthquake struck near Columbus, North Carolina at 11:14 am today from a depth of 5.6 km. Columbus is north of Greenville, South Carolina and west of Charlotte, North Carolina. Most of the people that reported feeling the earthquake were within 60 miles of the epicenter in both North and South Carolina.

According to USGS, earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or less are rarely felt or heard by people, but once they exceed 2.0 , more and more people can feel them. While damage is possible with magnitude 3.0 events or greater, significant damage and casualties usually don’t occur until the magnitude of a seismic event rises to a 5.5 or greater rated event.

Earthquakes are not common in North Carolina, but they do occur, with most being small and not causing damage. While the state isn’t known for frequent or strong seismic activity, occasional tremors can be felt, and some larger earthquakes have been recorded in the past. While the mountains and foothills of western North Carolina are not located along an active tectonic plate boundary, the region still has minor earthquakes linked to old fault lines along the Appalachian Mountains.

According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, while North Carolina is no stranger to earthquakes, large, damaging earthquakes are rare. Large, damaging seismic events are rare and the few felt in North Carolina had epicenters outside of the state. Most quakes in North Carolina originate from the East Tennessee seismic zone to the west, the Charleston, South Carolina seismic zone to the south, or the Central Virginia seismic zone to the north.  The most common and strongest earthquakes to strike the state have been in the western part along the Appalachian Mountains.