Weak Earthquake Rattles Eastern Georgia

The epicenter of today's earthquake in Georgia was at the orange dot inside the colored concentric circles. Image: USGS — The epicenter of today’s earthquake in Georgia was at the orange dot inside the colored concentric circles. Image: USGS

A weak earthquake rattled portions of eastern Georgia this morning not far from the state line with South Carolina. According to USGS, a weak magnitude 1.9 earthquake struck near Washington, Georgia at 10:10 am this morning. Located east of Atlanta, Georgia and west of Columbia, South Carolina, the epicenter of the earthquake hit an unpopulated area west of the J. Strom Thurmond Reservoir. There have been no other reports of earthquake activity in the area of today’s over the last 30 days.

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.

This map illustrates earthquake activity in and around Georgia cataloged by the USGS between 1903 and 2020. Image: Georgia Earthquake Awareness Guide 2020

According to Georgia’s Emergency Management and Home Security Agency (GEMA), approximately 15 percent of the world’s earthquakes are scattered over areas like Georgia that lack clearly defined active faults. Although earthquakes in Georgia are comparatively rare, scattered earthquakes caused significant damage and are an important consideration for homeowners. Georgia’s northwest counties, South Carolina border counties, and central and west central Georgia counties are most at risk.

GEMA recommends that people in Georgia plan for the risk of damaging earthquakes, especially if they’re in the northern Georgia counties of Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Fannin, Floyd, Gilmer, Gordon, Murray, Pickens, Rabun, Towns, Union, Walker, and Whitfield, the South Carolina border counties of Burke, Chatham, Columbia, Effingham, Elbert, Lincoln, Richmond, and Screven, and central and west-central counties of Twiggs, Bibb, Jones, Baldwin, Hancock, Greene, Putnam, Butts, Jasper, Newton, Morgan, Walton, Harris, and Muscogee.

GEMA writes, “It’s important to be aware of your earthquake risk and to know how to protect yourself.” They encourage people to take a moment now to learn basic steps they should take before, during, and after an earthquake.