Risk of South Carolina Earthquakes. Seventy percent occurred in the high intensity area of the 1886 Charleston Earthquake. All other earthquakes during 1974-1993 ranged in magnitude from less than 1 to 3.8. From 1989-1993 there was an increase in earthquake activity. The significance cannot be determined.
Earthquakes are unpredictable.
Thirty-nine of our 50 states are vulnerable to earthquakes. If earthquakes have occurred before, they will occur again. The major recording centers for the South Carolina Seismic Network are located at Charleston Southern University, Charleston, South Carolina, and the University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina. The Richter Scale is a mathematical formula using measurements of the amount of the needle displacement on the seismogram, which is a paper trace of the motions of the seismic waves that strike the seismometer. The seismometer is the buried ground sensor part of the instrument, or seismograph , that detects earthquakes.