VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A 4.7 magnitude earthquake was recorded Tuesday night off the coast of Virginia, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The agency specifically measured the quake as 219 kilometers from Ocean City, Maryland, — about 125 miles away — around 6:30 p.m.
There were no reports of any tsunami threat or any other effects from the quake, which is considered minor at 4.7. The USGS models show the area in which light shaking could have occurred was far offshore, but some viewers in the Tidewater region reported experiencing a slight moment of shaking.
The Richter scale, which measures the strength of earthquakes, goes from 1-10, increasing in intensity times 10 with each level. A 4.7 level quake is considered small to moderate in strength, but they’re much less common on the East Coast than the West Coast of United States, which is set right along major tectonic plates.
The August 23, 2011, Virginia earthquake was a magnitude 5.8, the strongest recordest east of the Rocky Mountains since 1944.
With an epicenter in Louisa County, northwest of Richmond, that quake was widely felt across more than a dozen states in the eastern U.S. and in Canada.
No deaths were reported, but it caused between $200 to $300 million in damage.