Feeling a little shook up? Wondering about that tremble in your toes, that wiggle in your nose, the ground rocking to and fro?
Did you know North Carolina is prone to earthquakes? Some are centered within the state, but we also feel them from five seismic zones including Eastern Tennessee, Charleston, South Carolina, Giles County, Virginia, Central Virginia and New Madrid.
Earthquakes can be felt across the state; however, the greatest threat is across the North Carolina mountains, especially along the Blue Ridge Escarpment.
Typically, large and damaging earthquakes are not common in the state, but history tells us they do happen. In fact, North Carolina has experienced 23 damaging earthquakes from 1735 to 2026. The most significant events occurred in 1861 in Wilkesboro, 1886 in Charleston, 1916 in Asheville, 1926 in Mitchell County and 2020 in Sparta. The most recent of these events was a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that occurred on August 9, 2020, in the town of Sparta, located in Alleghany County. The state’s Spartans experienced strong shaking that resulted in over 550 reports of damage to houses and commercial buildings across the county.
While building codes in North Carolina are not as strict as areas prone to major earthquakes, newer buildings and bridges are designed to withstand some amount of shaking. Older buildings, typically built from brick or stone, are most at risk for damage or failure during an earthquake.
Want to learn more about earthquake safety? Practice protecting yourself and join nearly a million others in the Great Southeast ShakeOut drill on October 15 at 10:15 a.m. While we encourage you to participate with others across the state, you can register your ShakeOut drill for any day of the year, and drill at a time of your choice. You can also include people in multiple locations through video conferencing.
More information about earthquake safety is on ReadyNC.gov.