COLUMBIA, S.C. — Another earthquake has shaken much of the Midlands, just hours after another strong tremor rattled the area.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the 3.6 magnitude quake struck at 7:03 p.m. Wednesday about 1.24 miles east of Elgin. It was at a depth of just a tenth of a mile, which is very close to the surface for an earthquake.
The USGS has confirmed two aftershocks, both at 7:22pm. One was 1.5 magnitude and the other was 1.8 magnitude. The two aftershocks happed at different times in the same minute.
It was the seventh quake of the day.
This week has seen 12 earthquakes.
News19 has gotten reports of people feeling the earthquake throughout the central Midlands and up near the Charlotte area. At WLTX, we were on the air when the 3.6 quake took place and that moment was captured on-air.
Watch Below: The moment when the earthquake struck at News19
The later tremor a bit stronger than the one that took place just hours earlier. The earlier one was a 3.5 magnitude quake that happened at 2:43 p.m. in an area 3.2 miles east of Elgin. The USGS shake map got well over 3,000 reports of people feeling it, with reports all across Richland, Kershaw, and Lexington Counties and has far north as Charlotte.
The Kershaw County Emergency Management division says the power outages in the area were caused by the earthquake. The earthquake triggered the switch plates which caused the power to blink off for a while.
Three much smaller aftershocks also took place.
Earthquakes happen throughout the state but most occur near the coast. Approximately 70 percent of earthquakes are in the coastal plain, with most happening in the Lowcountry.
Back in 1886, Charleston was hit by a catastrophic earthquake. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.3, and was felt as far away and Cuba and New York. At least 60 people were killed, and thousands of building were damaged.
Structural damage extended hundreds of miles to cities in Alabama, Ohio, and Kentucky.
Geologists say that Charleston lies in one of the most seismically active areas in the eastern United States.
Watch the moment when the quake struck in the middle of our newscast