Real Estate Law in Ladson, SC

A flurry of seismic activity continues in South Carolina, where three more earthquakes were recorded overnight.

In less than 12 hours from Wednesday to early Thursday, a 1.6 magnitude earthquake was confirmed, then came a 2.5 magnitude earthquake, which was followed by 1.8 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

All three of the earthquakes were recorded in South Carolina’s Lowcountry area, the USGS said. The first earthquake was at 4:25 p.m. near Ladson, while just a few miles away in Centerville another quake was confirmed at 9 p.m. Wednesday, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division said. More tremors followed at 3:52 a.m. Thursday, according the USGS.

These were the fourth, fifth and sixth earthquakes recorded in the same part of the Lowcountry in a 10-day span, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey data shows. Wednesday’s second earthquake was less than half a mile beneath the surface, while the other seismic activity was deeper — with both earthquakes about 3 miles underground, the USGS said.

Early Monday morning, a 1.6 magnitude earthquake occurred near Ladson, while a 2.9 magnitude earthquake occurred near Centerville on Feb. 7, according to South Carolina DNR. A 2.3 magnitude earthquake also was confirmed near Centerville on Feb. 3, South Carolina DNR data shows.

The seismic activity Wednesday and Thursday morning means that eight earthquakes have been confirmed in South Carolina this year.

Prior to the six consecutive tremors in the Lowcountry, the previous earthquake occurring in the Palmetto State happened Jan. 27, when a 2.1 magnitude quake was confirmed near Elgin, South Carolina DNR data shows. That was recorded a week after South Carolina’s first confirmed earthquake of 2026 hit the same area in Kershaw County with a 2.7 magnitude quake.

There were 35 confirmed earthquakes in South Carolina in 2025.

In 2024, there were 30 earthquakes in the Palmetto State, after 28 quakes were recorded in 2023, South Carolina DNR records show.

History of earthquakes in SC

It had been uncommon for earthquakes to hit outside the Midlands area of the Palmetto State, specifically beyond Kershaw County, where 74 earthquakes have been confirmed since the end of June 2022, according to the South Carolina DNR.

That’s also where South Carolina’s most powerful recent earthquakes were recorded on June 29, 2022.

On that day, two earthquakes — one a 3.5 magnitude and the other 3.6 — were included in a flurry of tremors and aftershocks. Those were the two largest quakes to hit South Carolina in nearly a decade. A 4.1-magnitude quake struck McCormick County in 2014.

Anyone who felt tremors and shaking or heard rumbling from Wednesday night’s or Thursday morning’s earthquakes can report it to the USGS.

The most recent earthquake means at least 175 have been detected in the Palmetto State since the start of 2022, according to South Carolina DNR. All but 59 of the quakes have been in the Midlands.

In all, 121 earthquakes have hit the Columbia area since a 3.3-magnitude quake was recorded Dec. 27, 2021, according to the DNR.

The S.C. Emergency Management Division said the majority of the recent earthquakes were classified as a micro quakes, according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale.

No major damage or injuries have been reported from the recent seismic activity or any of the other recent quakes.

Earthquakes that register 2.5 magnitude or less often go unnoticed and are usually recorded only by a seismograph, according to Michigan Technological University. Any quake less than 5.5 magnitude is not likely to cause significant damage, the school said.

It had been typical for South Carolina to have between six and 10 earthquakes a year, the S.C. Geological Survey previously reported. There have been 189 earthquakes in South Carolina since Jan. 18, 2021, according to DNR. During a 2022 town hall to address the earthquakes, state geologist Scott Howard said as many as 200 smaller tremors might have gone unnoticed and unrecorded.

Reported earthquakes in SC 2025-26

The quake was felt by hundreds in the area.

LADSON, S.C. — South Carolina felt the ground shake again on Monday marking the third earthquake in less than a week.

Saturday night, there was a 2.9-magnitude earthquake near Charleston, 3.7 miles southeast of Centreville, according to the USGS. It was the strongest quake recorded in South Carolina so far this year and it was felt by nearly a thousand people across the Lowcountry and beyond.

University of Charleston Professor of Geology Steven Jaume says it was noticeable but not unusual.

“It’s kind of in the normal place that we get them,” Jaume said. “It’s just slightly larger than normal. We’ve certainly had bigger ones within the past few years.”

Jaume says there may be an explanation for these earthquakes.

“It appears to be a place where some old faults from about 200 million years ago are being reactivated,” Jaume said. “There are places inside the plates where things are just weaker than the other stuff around it. And then it moves.”

This quake was the third minor earthquake in South Carolina in less than a week in the Ladson and Summerville area, raising concerns about whether a bigger one could be coming. Jaume says clusters like this aren’t unusual and don’t automatically signal danger.

“If they kept feeling them for three, four, five days in a row, then I might get a little concerned,” Jaume said. “But one or two days that’s not out of the ordinary.”

Earthquakes here can feel stronger and be felt over a wider area even when they’re smaller.

“Here in the eastern part of the US, the crust is colder and and harder, and it transmits the seismic waves a lot better," Jaume said. "When you go out West, it's a lot more warmer and more fractured."

If you feel shaking, drop, cover, and hold on and stay away from windows.