 In addition to the great landslide distances recorded , the landslides from the 2011 Virginia earthquake occurred in an area 20 times larger than expected from studies of worldwide earthquakes . Scientists plotted the landslide locations that were farthest out and then calculated the area enclosed by those landslides . The observed landslides from the Virginia earthquake enclose an area of about 33 @,@ 400 km2 , while previous studies indicated an expected area of about 1 @,@ 500 km2 from an earthquake of similar magnitude . 
