2011 a magnitude 5
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2011 15 years ago Selected Events August 23 4 sources

A 5.8 MW earthquake struck the Piedmont region of Virginia, and was felt by more people than any other quake in U.S. history.

On August 23, in the year 2011, A 5.8 MW earthquake struck the Piedmont region of Virginia, and was felt by more people than any other quake in U.S. history. This event is recorded as a Selected Events event in the history of August 23, a notable event in this corner of history.

The moment magnitude scale is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude based on its seismic moment. Mw was defined in a 1979 paper by Thomas C. Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori. Before Hanks and Kanamori (1979), Kanamori (1977) developed Mw scale for large earthquakes above 7.5. Thus Mw and M are not the same mathematicallly even they are considered the same. Similar to the local magnitude/Richter scale (ML) defined by Charles Francis Richter in 1935, it uses a logarithmic scale; small earthquakes have approximately the same magnitudes on both scales. Despite the difference, news media often use the term "Richter scale" when referring to the moment magnitude scale.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on August 23, 2011 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Selected Events event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 4 Wikipedia articles.
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 30 July 2026.

On This Date in History

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Notable Deaths 2014 Aug 23 Albert Ebossé Bodjongo, Cameroonian footballer (born 1989)
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Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 23 Richard J. Corman, American businessman, founded the R.J. Corman Railroad Group (born 1955)
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Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 23 Charles Lisanby, American production designer and set director (born 1924)
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 23 Konstanty Miodowicz, Polish ethnographer and politician (born 1951)
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 23 Vesna Rožič, Slovenian chess player (born 1987)
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 23 Tatyana Zaslavskaya, Russian sociologist and economist (born 1927)
Historical Events 2012 Aug 23 A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others.
Notable Deaths 2012 Aug 23 Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer and voice actor (born 1934)
Notable Deaths 2012 Aug 23 Josepha Sherman, American anthologist and author (born 1946)
Historical Events 2011 Aug 23 A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in…
Historical Events 2011 Aug 23 Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab…
Historical Events 2010 Aug 23 The Manila hostage crisis occurred near the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, Philippines killing 9 people including the…
Notable Deaths 2008 Aug 23 John Russell, English-American author and critic (born 1919)
Historical Events 2007 Aug 23 The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister…
Historical Events 2006 Aug 23 Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight…
Notable Deaths 2006 Aug 23 Maynard Ferguson, Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (born 1928)
Selected Events 2006 Aug 23 Natascha Kampusch (pictured), who had been abducted at the age of ten in Vienna, escaped from her captor's house in…
Notable Deaths 2005 Aug 23 Brock Peters, American actor (born 1927)
Notable Deaths 2003 Aug 23 Bobby Bonds, American baseball player and manager (born 1946)
Notable Deaths 2003 Aug 23 Jack Dyer, Australian footballer and coach (born 1913)
Notable Deaths 2003 Aug 23 Jan Sedivka, Czech-Australian violinist and educator (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2003 Aug 23 Michael Kijana Wamalwa, Kenyan lawyer and politician, 8th Vice President of Kenya (born 1944)
Notable Deaths 2002 Aug 23 Hoyt Wilhelm, American baseball player and coach (born 1922)
Notable Deaths 2001 Aug 23 Kathleen Freeman, American actress (born 1919)
Notable Deaths 2001 Aug 23 Peter Maas, American journalist and author (born 1929)
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Notable Deaths 1997 Aug 23 John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)
Notable Births 1996 Aug 23 Alejo Igoa, Argentine YouTuber

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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