REVEALED: The biggest earthquakes to rock the East Coast in history - including 7.8 quake that killed 60 people in South Carolina

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled New Jersey and New York City on Friday - the first time that a major earthquake hit the East Coast in over a decade.

In 2011 a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck just outside Washington, DC - with tremors felt from North Carolina up to Maine.

An earthquake is caused by suddenly shifting fault lines within the Earth which releases energy in the form of seismic waves that pass through the crust and causes the ground to shake.

In 2002, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck the center of the Adirondack Mountains and damaged a 200-foot portion of a road near Plattsburgh, New York.

The largest quake to ever hit the state occurred in the Pymatuning Lake region in 1998, recording a 5.2 magnitude.

The largest earthquake recorded to hit the US occurred in Charleston, South Carolina in 1886, killing 60 people

Earthquakes occur when fault lines under the Earth's crust shift, releasing seismic waves that shake the ground

A year later, a US Geological Survey revealed in the three months after the tremor, 120 wells ran dry and others started to overflow, causing pond levels to rise.

The survey also reported that several people complained that the water quality had depleted, saying the well water turned black or smelled like sulfur. 

Another major earthquake struck Reading, Pennsylvania in 1994, registering at 4.6 and at the time, was one of the strongest to hit the region in recorded history.

It caused about $2 million worth of damage, causing the most destruction on the East Coast since the 1944 earthquake hit New York. 

Messena, New York suffered $2 million in property damage in 1944 when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake - the largest to ever hit the state - destroyed chimneys, home foundations and plumbing systems.

The $2 million recorded in 1944 would amount to roughly $35 million in 2024.

In 1897, an estimated 5.9 earthquake struck Pearisburg, Virginia, wrecking chimneys and walls and was felt down to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

A description of the events were reported in The Tazewell Republican at the time, reporting of the panic that ensued.

It added: '…bricks flew from off the houses; riding horses secured to the racks about, broke loose and fled and neighed; the dust arose from the rolling earth…' 

The largest earthquake to hit the East Coast in recorded US history was in 1886 when a 7.3 magnitude shattered Charleston, South Carolina.

The quake killed 60 people and caused substantial damage to nearly every structure in the the city, with additional destruction reaching as far as central Ohio.

The financial toll was an estimated $5 to $6 million at the time, amounting to a whopping nearly $2 billion today.

The largest earthquake in US history occurred in Charleston, South Carolina - pictured here showing the horrific damage that ensued

In 1783, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake is believed to have originated in the New Jersey Highlands - a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains - and was felt from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania.

READ MORE: Earthquake in NYC and New Jersey causes social media to explode with hilarious memes 

 The earthquake was a 4.8 and trembles were felt in NYC, Philadelphia, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut

The 1755 earthquake in Cape Ann, Massachusetts was an estimate 6.0 magnitude that expanded to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

Reports from the time said people on board a ship off the coast of Cape Ann felt the earthquake so strongly that they first thought the ship ran aground. 

Boston.com reported that a 1755 report in The Philadelphia Gazette described what the earthquake felt like in Boston.

'There was at first a rumbling noise like low thunder, which was immediately followed with such a violent shaking of the earth and buildings, as threw every into the greatest amazement, expecting every moment to be buried in the ruins of their houses,' the article said.

'In a word, the instances of damage done to our houses and chimneys are so many, that it would be endless to recount them.'

Earthquakes have been recorded in the US dating all the way back to 1700, but it wasn't until 1964 that the largest earthquake on record struck Prince William Sound, Alaska.

The earthquake was ranked as a 9.2 magnitude out of 10, and was the second largest quake ever recorded around the world, coming in after a magnitude 9.5 hit Chile in 1960.