 The earthquake prompted research that revealed that the farthest landslide from the epicenter was 150 miles ( 240 km ) , by far the greatest landslide distance recorded from any other earthquake of similar magnitude . Previous studies of worldwide earthquakes indicated that landslides occurred no farther than 36 miles ( 58 km ) from the epicenter of a magnitude 5 @.@ 8 earthquake . The Virginia earthquake study suggested that the added information about East Coast earthquakes may prompt a revision of equations that predict ground shaking . 
