South Carolina earthquake felt as far away as Augusta.An earthquake Wednesday afternoon in the Columbia, S.C., area was felt as far away as Augusta.
The quake registering somewhere between 3.33 and 4.4-magnitude was recorded at 2:43 p.m. Wednesday three miles east of Elgin.
An Augusta resident reported feeling it as far away as Doctors Hospital.
Elgin has been a focal point of a so-called swarm of earthquakes lately, including a 3.3-magnitude quake early Sunday.
According to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, there have now been more than 30 earthquakes near Elgin since Christmas.
Dr. Scott White, director of the of the South Carolina Seismic Network and a professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment, said while this activity is unusual, it’s not abnormal for South Carolina or the Southeast.
Plus “there’s nothing about this that suggests that the earthquakes are going to get any larger,” he said.
That is because, according to White, in the geological record there are almost never foreshocks, which are earthquakes that precede larger earthquakes in the same location. They can happen, but they are quite rare, he said.
