A 3.3 magnitude earthquake has hit north-west England, with dozens of residents reporting that their homes were shaking and it woke them up
A quake has rattled north-west England, jolting dozens from their sleep as their homes ‘shook’. Sky News reports that the 3.3-magnitude tremor hit Lancashire in the late hours of Wednesday.
The seismic activity kicked off at 11.23pm on Wednesday night, December 3, according to initial data. Scores of people have reported being roused by their homes trembling.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed it was “felt across the South Lakes and Lancashire, mainly within 20km of the epicentre, including Lancashire, Kendal and Ulverston”. The quake’s epicentre was off the coast of Silverdale, at a depth of 1.86 miles (3km), current data suggests.
While the BGS detects around 200 to 300 quakes each year in the UK, only 20 to 30 are actually felt by folks. A few hundred smaller tremors are only picked up by sensitive instruments.
Most of these quakes are minor and don’t cause any damage. Reactions to the earth-shaking event flooded social media, reports the Mirror.
One post described the quake as feeling like an “felt like an explosion and vibration coming from underground”.
Another user claimed it was “so powerful to shake the whole house”, while another likened the noise to “sounded like bricks falling/the roof falling in.”
Current data indicates that although the depth couldn’t be pinpointed, it’s believed to be shallow. The tremor was widely felt in the area.
People in Lancashire and surrounding towns have reported feeling the tremors. The nearest major town where the quake might have been felt is Preston, situated roughly 43km from the epicentre.
The UK has been hit by multiple earthquakes over a short period recently as seismic activity across the country appears to be increasing. Over the weekend, two small quakes were recorded.
On Sunday, a 1.3 magnitude tremor struck Herefordshire at around 3:15pm, followed by a 1.0 magnitude quake in Cornwall at around 9:30pm. These were preceded by a 0.4 magnitude earthquake in Pubil, Perth and Kinross, likely linked to ongoing seismic activity in the region. On Monday, a further 1.0 magnitude earthquake occurred near Newport at around 5:20pm.
This comes after the UK was struck by a magnitude three earthquake on Saturday, at 10:41am in the Stirling area. The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the communities most likely to have noticed anything unusual were Killin and Callander.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
#Earthquake #hits #northwest #England #people #woken #shake #felt #explosion
