A magnitude 5.1 earthquake that struck North Carolina near the border with Virginia on Sunday morning was the largest area in more than a century, the Geological Survey of the United States said.
The quake struck about 20 miles southeast of Sparta, NC, a city about 100 miles north of Charlotte, shortly after 8 a.m. local time and was felt as far south as Atlanta and as far north as Baltimore, according to reports made by the public around the agency. .
The earthquake was the largest in the region since one hit in 516 in 1816 in the nearby Great Smoky Mountains. A magnitude 5.8 earthquake in 2011 that struck Mineral, Va., About 200 miles northeast of Sunday’s earthquake, is the largest one on the East Coast in recent history.
Some structural damage to buildings was reported on Sunday. The chimney collapsed at one house near Sparta and videos on social media, roads cracked and water lines broke.
Items fell from the shelves near homes and groceries, but no deaths or serious injuries were reported.
“It was a very moving ride,” said John Kilmartin, manager and co-owner of the Alleghany Inn in Sparta.
He was at home, five miles outside Sparta, when the earthquake struck.
“It felt like the whole house was just lifting up and starting to shake violently,” he said. “We could not even walk.”
The inn left no damage as far as he could see, he said.
Major earthquakes are uncommon in the region, according to the agency, although some moderately damaged earthquakes in inner North Carolina and South Carolina can occur “every few decades,” it said.
It is likely that aftershocks of magnitude 3 or higher will hit the region in the next week, the agency estimates, although the chance that one larger than Sunday’s earthquake will hit 4 percent.
At least four foreshocks ranging from about 2.1 to 2.6 began about 25 hours before Sunday’s quake, the agency said.
