2011 Virginia earthquake
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| Date | August 23, 2011 |
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| Origin time | 1:51:04 EDT |
| Magnitude | 5.8 Mw |
| Depth | 6 km (4 mi) |
| Epicenter | 37°56′10″N 77°55′59″W / 37.936°N 77.933°WCoordinates: 37°56′10″N 77°55′59″W / 37.936°N 77.933°W |
| Type | Oblique-slip |
| Areas affected | Canada, United States |
| Max. intensity | VII (Very strong) |
| Peak acceleration | 0.26g |
The 2011 Virginia earthquake occurred on August 23 at 1:51:04 p.m. local time in the Piedmont region of the US state of Virginia. The epicenter, in Louisa County, was 61 km (38 mi) northwest of Richmond and 8 km (5 mi) south-southwest of the town of Mineral. It was an intraplate earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 and a maximum perceived intensity of VII (Very strong) on the Mercalli intensity scale. Several aftershocks, ranging up to 4.5 Mw in magnitude, occurred after the main tremor.
With an estimated magnitude of 5.8., it, along with a quake on the New York–Ontario border in 1944 and the 2016 earthquake near Pawnee, Oklahoma is tied as the largest to have occurred in the U.S., east of the Rocky Mountains, since an equivalent 1897 quake centered in Giles County in western Virginia.
The quake was felt across more than a dozen U.S. states and in several Canadian provinces, and was felt by more people than any other quake in U.S. history. No deaths and only minor injuries were reported. Minor and moderate damage to buildings was widespread and was estimated by one risk-modeling company at $200 million to $300 million, of which about $100 million was insured.
The earthquake prompted research that revealed that the farthest landslide from the epicenter was 150 miles (240 km), by far the greatest landslide distance recorded from any other earthquake of similar magnitude. Previous studies of worldwide earthquakes indicated that landslides occurred no farther than 36 miles (58 km) from the epicenter of a magnitude 5.8 earthquake. The Virginia earthquake study suggested that the added information about East Coast earthquakes may prompt a revision of equations that predict ground shaking.
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