(OPINION) Michael Snyder – Unusually large earthquakes have been striking diverse locations all over the United States in recent months, and experts are not exactly sure why this is happening. On Sunday, a very strange magnitude 5.1 earthquake that hit North Carolina made headlines all over the nation.
In fact, when I checked the Drudge Report on Sunday it was the top headline on the entire site. Earthquakes of this size very rarely happen in the eastern United States, and it is being reported that this quake was the most powerful to hit the state in more than one hundred years… A 5.1 magnitude earthquake felt in Charlotte shortly after 8 a.m.
Sunday was centered just over a mile south of Sparta, near the Virginia border, the strongest quake to hit North Carolina in more than a century. In fact, it was the strongest earthquake in the state since 1916, according to the National Weather Service, when a 5.2 magnitude quake occurred near Skyland, just outside of Asheville.
Prior to this quake, western North Carolina would have been one of the areas that I would have said is least vulnerable to earthquakes in the entire country. I was very surprised that this quake happened, and we are being told that it actually “shook homes and rattled dishes as far away as Atlanta”.
The epicenter was very close to Sparta, and the mayor of Sparta said that it felt like “a big wave coming underneath the bed”… “It felt like a big locomotive going by and a big wave coming underneath the bed,” Sparta Mayor Wes Brinegar told CNN. “A big wave coming to lift you. … I’ve lived here my whole life and have never felt anything like that.”
Of course, this earthquake in North Carolina is just the latest in a series of very large earthquakes that have hit our country in recent months. For example, on July 22nd a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Alaska… A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska, south of the Aleutian Islands, Tuesday night (July 21) local time, prompting fear of a tsunami, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. READ MORE
Enormous? A 5.1 that caused no significant damage. And as far as your 7.8 that “struck Alaska”, it was out to sea at extreme depth. Yes, we have seen an increase in seismic activity in recent months. But to call them “enormous” is sensationalism. Though when we do have an “enormous” quake on US soil you’re sure to claim this article as prophetic. Why are those that falsely teach rapture theology always making mountains out of mole hills. When the “bad” gets here you’ll know it. Why don’t you retain a journalist that has eyes to see and ears to hear and stop using this scattergun approach to potential eschatological events.