According to USGS, a weak earthquake rattled western North Carolina during the overnight hours. At 11:43 pm, an earthquake with a depth of 5.1 km struck near Canton, North Carolina as a magnitude 2.1 event. Located south and west of Asheville, this latest earthquake struck about 25 miles south and west of where another earthquake hit on Monday morning. There were no reports of any damage or injuries.
USGS says that 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.
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…