Biggest earthquake for almost 25 years hits Britain
Wednesday, 27 Feb 2008 19:59
Earthquake measuring 5.2 hits UK, biggest in nearly 25 years..
The UK has been hit by an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, the biggest in nearly 25 years.
A tremor at around 01:00 GMT was felt by people in Newcastle; Yorkshire; Manchester; the Midlands; and Norfolk.
And though the British Geological Survey (BGS) has stated that the epicentre of the quake was near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, some 127 miles north of London, many people in the capital were woken by the seismic activity.
A man from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was hospitalised when a chimney collapsed and fell through his bedroom roof, injuring his pelvis.
A second, smaller earthquake was recorded by the BGS was recorded 02:46 GMT with an aftershock measuring 1.8 on the Richter scale noted at around 04:00 GMT.
Soon after the quake occurred, its magnitude was adjudged to be 4.7 by the US Geological Survey (UGS) while the BGS later stated it had been a 5.3 tremor before confirming it was a 5.2 quake, a "relatively rare" incident.
Talking to the BBC, Dr Brian Baptie of the BGS said: "An earthquake of this size, of magnitude five or thereabouts, will occur roughly every ten to 20 years in the UK."
"The largest earthquake that we know about that has struck the UK was about 100km off the east coast of England on the Dogger Bank and it had a magnitude of 6.1.
"So we can get these kind of moderate to significant earthquakes of this size but they're relatively rare."
There are no reports of injuries in Lincolnshire - closest to the epicentre of the earthquake - though some people have experienced minor damage to their homes.