Emergency Management Officials Encouraging Participation in the Great Southeast ShakeOut

Thursday, October 15, is the Great Southeast ShakeOut Drill and emergency management officials are encouraging all North Carolinians to participate by dropping, covering and holding on.

While earthquakes can be felt across the state, the greatest threat is across the North Carolina mountains, especially along the Blue Ridge Escarpment. North Carolinians don't feel earthquakes only centered within the state, they also can be from five seismic zones including Eastern Tennessee, Charleston, South Carolina, Giles County, Virginia, Central Virginia and New Madrid.

Typically, large and damaging earthquakes are not common in North Carolina, but history tells us they do happen. In fact, North Carolina has experienced 23 damaging earthquakes from 1735 to 2026. The most significant events occurred in 1861 in Wilkesboro, 1886 in Charleston, 1916 in Asheville, 1926 in Mitchell County and 2020 in Sparta.

The most recent of these events was a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that occurred on August 9, 2020, in the town of Sparta, located in Alleghany County, that resulted in over 550 reports of damage to houses and commercial buildings across the county.

Protect yourself during an earthquake:

• DROP where you are, onto your hands and knees. This position protects you from being knocked down and reduces your chances of being hit by falling or flying objects.
• COVER your head and neck with one arm and hand.
  • If a sturdy table or desk is nearby, crawl underneath for shelter.
  • If no shelter is nearby, crawl next to an interior wall.
  • Stay on your knees; bend over to protect vital organs.
• HOLD ON until the shaking stops.
  • Under shelter: hold on to it with one hand; be ready to move with your shelter if it shifts
  • No shelter: hold on to your head and neck with both arms and hands.

Want to learn more about earthquake safety? Practice protecting yourself and join nearly a million others in the Great Southeast ShakeOut drill on October 15 at 10:15 a.m. While we encourage you to participate with others across the state, you can register your ShakeOut drill for any day of the year, and drill at a time of your choice. You can also include people in multiple locations through video conferencing.

More information about earthquake safety is on ReadyNC.gov.