SC officials try to calm concerns over string of Midlands earthquakes
Local and state officials worked to reassure Kershaw County residents Wednesday that there is no reason to worry about a series of earthquakes that have rocked the community in recent months.
But the cause of the string of earthquakes remains somewhat mysterious, officials said at the town hall that was livestreamed on the county’s Facebook page and featured experts answering residents’ submitted questions.
Elgin has been at the epicenter of multiple low-level earthquakes in recent weeks, and an unusually high number have been felt in the small town 20 miles northeast of Columbia. None of the quakes have been large enough to do much damage and wouldn’t be considered major recordings on the Richter scale, but in otherwise still South Carolina, the shakes and their frequency have sparked concern.
The region suffered its latest earthquake on Monday, the largest this month at a 2.1 magnitude. It was the 62nd earthquake recorded in the Palmetto State this year. All but five of those have struck in the Midlands.
State geologist Scott Howard said as many as 200 smaller tremors may have gone unnoticed and unrecorded, “so there’s not enough information about their location,” he said. Recorded quakes have occurred in a northeast-oriented cluster near the town, Howard said, “which goes against the grain of structures known here in the Piedmont.”
The earthquakes have occurred in three distinct swarms, Howard said, in the December/January time frame, a short cluster in May, and then again since June.
Kim Stenson, director of the SC Emergency Management Division, said the state has a plan in place for responding to a potentially more destructive earthquake and providing support to people affected. But Stenson said “we don’t believe low magnitude earthquakes are a precursor to a larger one.”
While South Carolina historically doesn’t experience that many major quakes, the state does sit on several fault lines. In 1886, Charleston was racked by a 7.3-magnitude quake, the largest ever to hit the eastern United States, killing 60 people. A state study estimates that a similarly-sized quake in the same area today would cause $20 billion in damage.
Stenson suggested residents have earthquake insurance on their homes and have a disaster supply kit with needed items in case normal services are knocked out by a quake. He also said the agency provides earthquake notifications, so residents can find out if a rumble was “not thunder or a large truck.”
Cameron Ryan with Duke Energy told the audience for Wednesday’s meeting that the dam at Lake Wateree is built to withstand even larger tremors than the ones the area has suffered in recent months, and Stenson said bridges are regularly inspected and have not shown damage from the quakes.
