Hundreds Report Shaking from Kentucky Earthquake

Today's earthquake struck at the orange dot inside the colored concentric circles on this map. Image: USGS — Today’s earthquake struck at the orange dot inside the colored concentric circles on this map. Image: USGS

An earthquake jolted portions of Kentucky today, with hundreds of people reporting to USGS they felt the quake. According to USGS, at 12:47 pm this afternoon, a magnitude 3.1 earthquake struck just south of Lexington near the town of Lancaster. As of press time, more than 390 reported they felt the earthquake to USGS via their website reporting tool.

Today’s earthquake struck from a depth of 13.7 km. Today’s earthquake was the first to strike the state within the last 30 days. But it is no stranger to earthquakes either; a weaker earthquake hit the same spot in August 2023.

While USGS did receive hundreds of reports from concerned citizens, there were no reports of damage or injuries from today’s seismic event.

Since 1974, there have been more than 4,000 earthquakes near the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Scientists believe a large earthquake here in the future isn't a matter of if but when. Image: USGS — Since 1974, there have been more than 4,000 earthquakes near the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Scientists believe a large earthquake here in the future isn’t a matter of if but when. Image: USGS

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.

Today’s earthquake struck outside of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), which is an area of significant seismic unrest located near New Madrid, Missouri and western Kentucky. While many earthquakes have rattled western Kentucky by the NMSZ, USGS reports there have been no other earthquakes of any magnitude around today’s epicenter for the last 30 days.

According to the Kentucky Geological Survey at the University of Kentucky , earthquakes have occurred in and around Kentucky in the past and continue to occur. The strongest historic earthquake recorded inside Kentucky’s borders was a magnitude 5.2 Sharpsburg earthquake which struck on July 27, 1980, in Bath County. The quake caused an estimated $3 million in damage in Maysville. The 4.2 magnitude earthquake in 2012 to strike Perry County caused minor damage to the Letcher County Courthouse in southeastern Kentucky. The most significant earthquakes to have affected Kentucky occurred from December 1811 to February 1812 in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.