reporter: it was a most catastrophic earthquake ever to hit anyplace east of the mississippi, in all of u.s. history. struck charleston with a ferocious roar. reporter: author and researcher richard describes the horror that filled the steamy charleston air on august 31st, 1886. an estimated 7.3 magnitude earthquake devastated this charming southern city. two-thirds of all the brick structures in charleston were either destroyed or severely damaged. reporter: and it was felt from montreal to nebraska, cuba to bermuda. so this is the church building. this was severely damaged in the earthquake. this is one of the most magnificent churches in charleston. the entire bell tower separated with a huge crack through the side of the building. reporter: amazingly the church was put back together with earthquake bolts, as were many other buildings in town. so these are the earthquake
california, but some of the largest earthquakes in u.s. history actually happened in the midwest and southeast. chicago had that little tremor a couple months ago. they did. a lot of people are familiar with the new madrid fault, but about charleston, south carolina? we ll take thru. they could experience an earthquake as powerful as the one that happened in haiti in january. reporter: it was the most catastrophic earthquake ever to hit anyplace east of the mississippi in all of u.s. history struck charleston with a ferocious roar. reporter: author and researcher describes the horror that filled the steamy charleston air on august 31, 1886. an estimated 7.3 earthquake devastated the city. two-thirds of all the bricks in charleston were either destroyed or severely damaged. reporter: and it was felt from mont ramontreal and then t