ATLANTA— An earthquake of 4.1 preliminary magnitude was reported Saturday morning in Tennessee and was felt in Atlanta, western North Carolina and elsewhere, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and local news reports.
The website for USGS said the earthquake originated shortly after 9 a.m. EDT about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Greenback, Tennessee, which is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Knoxville.
Meteorologists at television news stations serving Georgia and North Carolina reported feeling the tremors as well.
More than 23,000 reports from the public were received by USGS in the first hour after the earthquake, USGS spokeswoman Ayesha Davis told The Associated Press in an email. Meteorologists at television news stations serving Georgia and North Carolina reported feeling the tremors as well.
Gabriela Reilly was making waffles with her husband when they felt their entire home shake in Braselton, Georgia, which is northeast of Atlanta.
“Our ceiling fan started shaking for about 10 seconds,” she said. “I thought a giant aircraft had flown low right over the neighborhood, but my husband said, ‘No, that was definitely an earthquake!’”
There is a 5% chance of a magnitude 4 or larger aftershock in the next week, according to USGS.
Earthquakes are not uncommon in the region. The Eastern Tennessee seismic zone is one of the most active in the Southeast and extends across parts of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.
Two tremors struck in December 2018. One was a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that was centered in Decatur, Tennessee, which is south of Knoxville. It shook homes as far away as Atlanta.
Another earthquake struck a few days later with a magnitude of 3.0. Its epicenter was about two miles (four kilometers) southeast of Mascot, near Knoxville. It also was felt in parts of Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Seismic waves from earthquakes spread more efficiently in the Eastern U.S. compared to the West because of the region’s geology, said Davis.
“Earthquakes in the East are felt over a much larger distance and by more people,” she said.
