THE CHARLESTON EARTHQUAKE OF 1886

GENERAL FACTS

• The quake struck at 9:50 on August 31, 1886
• The casualties are estimated at 83 people
• The damage caused costed $8,000,000
• It lasted about one minute with 7 aftershocks occurring in the next 24 hours
• Magnitude was 7.3

The cause of the quake was the location. The Charleston area is located on the intersection of the North and South Woodstock faults. Scientists today are still studying these areas prone to earthquakes that aren't on plate boundaries.

From their studies of the quake, scientists estimate that magnitude 7+ earthquakes occur once every 500 years

THE EFFECTS

• The quake damaged buildings as far as 1,000 kilometers away
• 80 kilometers of railroad track was damaged
• Houses were physically moved by a few centimeters
• Chimneys broke off about 14,000 houses
• In order to save houses, bolts as long as the house itself, ran through the floor to prevent them from falling over.

SOURCES

• http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/about/workshops/CEUS-WORKSHP/Tuesday/Tal...
• http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/index.php?regionID=40
• http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906.2/charleston.html
• https://www.dnr.sc.gov/geology/earthquake.htm
• http://library.sc.edu/blogs/academy/files/2011/08/After-the-Storm-8-5.5.pdf
• M