While the East Coast was dealing with a major blizzard, people near the western Virginia town of Independence were rattled by a weak earthquake last night. According to USGS, at 7:45 pm, from a depth of 8.2 km, a magnitude 2.2 earthquake struck. The earthquake’s epicenter was less than 2 miles north of the state border with North Carolina and about 8 miles away from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
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.
Virginia has a history of earthquakes, although they are generally not as strong nor frequent as in other regions of the United States like California. Virginia has experienced a number of significant earthquakes, including the Mineral earthquake of 2011.
On August 23, 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the Piedmont region at 1:51 pm. The epicenter, in Louisa County, was 38 miles northwest of Richmond and 5 miles south-southwest of the town of Mineral. It was an intraplate earthquake with a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale. Several aftershocks, ranging up to a magnitude 4.5 event, occurred after the main tremor…