North Louisiana was shaken with an unexpected wake-up call early Thursday morning as a 4.4 magnitude earthquake struck near the town of Edgefield. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported the quake occurred at 5:30 a.m., centered approximately 4.4 miles northwest of Edgefield and roughly 29 miles northwest of Natchitoches. While the epicenter was located about 173 miles from Baton Rouge, the tremor was felt across a wide swath of the state and into East Texas.

The earthquake occurred at a depth approximately 3.1 miles below ground level which is relatively shallow and makes shaking more noticeable to those nearby. Cities such as Coushatta and Mansfield may have notified moderate shaking while some weaker activity may have been felt in Shreveport, Bossier City and Natchitoches. According to USGS estimates, over 670,000 people live within the region that may have felt at least light shaking.

Damage from this level of shaking is unlikely but experts say older unreinforced brick masonry buildings could be vulnerable to minor cracking. No major infrastructure damage has been reported.

Earthquakes of this magnitude are uncommon for the Pelican State. Historically, Louisiana sits in a relatively quiet seismic zone compared to neighbors like Arkansas or the New Madrid Fault zone further north. The last comparable events in the broader region occurred in 1982 and 2001, both registering at a 4.7 magnitude.

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