How common are earthquakes in Middle Georgia, and what causes them?
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 2.3 magnitude earthquake near Macon early Sunday morning, an earthquake too small to do significant damage, but one that several Maconites have reported hearing or feeling.
Earthquakes aren’t common in Georgia (you probably know that). But how uncommon? Over the past 120 years, just over 400 earthquake have been reported, according to USGS.
In 2018, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake in Tennessee was felt in Atlanta, but you have to go back to 1984 to find one that large with an epicenter in Georgia, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
That’s partly because Georgia doesn’t have any “clearly defined active faults,” with most seismic activity in northwest Georgia along the Brevard fault zone. Comparatively, Californians experienced almost 6,800 earthquakes between 2.0 and 3.0 magnitude in 2020 alone.
Georgia’s history with earthquakes
The largest earthquake ever in Georgia occurred in 1914, a 4.5 magnitude with an epicenter near Madison in Morgan County. A 4.8 was felt in Georgia a year earlier, that that quake’s epicenter was in South Carolina.
Sunday’s tremor was the first reported by the USGS with an epicenter near Macon (you can report if you felt it here). A 2.2 quake was recorded near Milledgeville back in 2010.
According to a 2009 study by Dr. Leland Long, a retired professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, quakes in Middle Georgia can feel more significant due to their depth.
“The shallow depths of the central Georgia earthquakes explain the unusually high intensities observed near their epicenters,” he wrote. “In central Georgia, magnitude 2.5 to 3.0 earthquakes are often felt with Modified Mercalli Intensity V. By comparison, intensity V usually requires a magnitude 4 earthquake in areas where the focal depth is 10 to 15 km.”
What do in during an earthquake
The Georgia Emergency Management Agency recommends you take the following actions during a strong earthquake:
Drop to the ground fast, otherwise the earthquake shaking may knock you down uncontrollably.
Cover yourself below a strong table or desk. Falling objects and collapsing structures cause many of the injuries and deaths during an earthquake. In addition, cover your head and face to protect them from broken glass and falling objects.
Hold onto a table or desk and be prepared to move with it. Hold your position until the shaking stops.
Do NOT run outside or use the stairways or elevators during the shaking. The entrance ways of buildings and homes are particularly dangerous because of falling bricks and debris.
