QuakeIndex

Earthquakes in District of Columbia

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Too few earthquakes here to say what is "normal"

Only 9 earthquakes of M1.5 or largerhave been recorded in District of Columbia in the 10 years of record we hold, and most weeks have none. A QuakeIndex score is a percentile against this place's own weeks — and when almost every week is empty, that number would just be reporting whether anything happened at all, dressed up as a percentile. So we do not publish one.

This is a statement about District of Columbia, not about our data: it is a quiet place. There have been none of M1.5 or larger in the last 7 days.

USGS catalogue · updated

The last 30 days

Aug 29 Sep 13 Sep 27
Each mark is a day's largest quake within range; its size is the magnitude. There is not yet enough history here to draw a normal range.

Live · last 7 days

Latest earthquakes in District of Columbia

None in District of Columbia in the latest snapshot we hold; the full 7 days load from USGS as this page opens.

Source USGS · snapshot of

Where this is

Centre 38.904, -77.017 — the mean of this state’s place centroids, from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Activity is measured across a rectangle drawn around the state, so a few earthquakes just over its border are counted too.

Largest on record in and around District of Columbia

MagnitudeWhenWhere
M 2.6 2 km SE of Woodlawn, Maryland
M 2.5 4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
M 2.3 0 km WSW of Rockville, Maryland
M 2.1 Clarksville, Maryland
M 2.0 4 km ESE of Sykesville, Maryland
M 1.8 1 km NE of Spencerville, Maryland
M 1.7 0 km S of Woodlawn, Maryland
M 1.6 1 km NNW of Irvington, Maryland

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service · inside a rectangle drawn around District of Columbia, which takes in some ground over its borders.

Counties in District of Columbia

After an earthquake here