Southeastern U.S. earthquakes of 2003
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During 2003, two significant earthquakes occurred in and were felt across the southeastern United States. The two were the strongest to have been felt across their respective areas in several decades, but are considered random and completely coincidental and unrelated.
Alabama
The first occurred on April 29th just a few seconds before 4am CDT and 5am EDT (9:00 UTC). The epicenter was immediately west of the state line between Menlo, Georgia and Fort Payne, Alabama, and about 37 miles or 60km southwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Initial reports put the magnitude (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismology) at 4.5 on the Richter scale, but it was soon pinned to a final 4.9 after data was analyzed.
Some structural damage and power outages were reported in Fort Payne and other parts of DeKalb County, but otherwise damage was limited to some very rattled nerves. Many 9-1-1 call centers were overloaded with worried and sometimes panicked residents, who thought it was a train derailment, a bomb, or some other type of explosion which had awaken them.
Credible reports were received that it was felt strongly in all of northeastern Alabama, northwestern Georgia, and southeastern Tennessee, and somewhat in four other U.S. states including western North Carolina.
In the Atlanta metro area, tens of thousands were awaken by the shaking, rumbling, swaying, rattling, or banging the earthquake caused in various places, depending on the geology and the type of structure in which it was experienced. The Georgia Building Authority inspected the historic state capitol in downtown Atlanta and other state-owned buildings and found no problems.
The USGS has assigned event code TEAK to this event. See [1] (http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/2003/eq_030429/) and [2] (http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/poster/2003/20030429.html) for more data.
Virginia
The second occurred on December 9th, immediately before 4:00pm EST (21:00 UTC), in the foothills about 30 miles or 48km west of Richmond, Virginia.
This earthquake was felt strongly in Richmond and over most of Virginia, and was also felt significantly or somewhat in Washington, DC, eastern West Virginia, southern Maryland, and northern North Carolina.
As a precaution, the state capitol and other government buildings in Richmond were evacuated and inspected for damage, of which none was found.
The USGS has assigned event code CDBF to this event. See [3] (http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/2003/eq_031209/) and [4] (http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/poster/2003/20031209.html) for more data.