Earthquake

Well as lots of you will by now know, the UK was hit by an earthquake at 1am this morning. It registered 5.2 on the Richter scale and the epicentre was Market Rasen, which is 75 miles to the north of where I am in Peterborough.

It was the biggest earthquake in the UK for nearly 25 years, although probably small and less damaging than some of my friends will have experienced in their parts of the world. I would also like to mention here that contrary to what some of you think, I didn't cause it by over exercising my brain last night!

I did however feel it and it was really scary. As far as I know I was the only one in our house (apart from the dogs) who felt anything! Simon was really tired last night and I wanted to read so he had gone to sleep in Verity's room. I had read my book until about 12.30am when I turned out my light. I wasn't asleep but just laying and thinking. The first thing I heard was the noise..... a really deep and loud rumbling. I was just beginning to think, "what the hell is that" when the whole house just shook really violently.

I knew immediately what it was as we have experienced this before, some years ago. I jumped out of bed calling for Simon (not sure why now!) as I went for the stairs there was a big final shudder which made me fall. I sat there on the stairs just shaking. The dogs were crying. The rest of the house was silent!

I sat there ages as it had really shaken me up... No pun intended! I was also worried about after shocks as this was the biggest I had ever experienced. I eventually went back to bed about quarter past one. I had no sooner got in when I felt a very minor tremble. According to the news this morning there were several after shocks, one at about 1.20am, so that must of been what I felt.

I got up and put the light on and ended up sitting up reading some more for ages. I had the light on all night. Not sure why I thought that was important! Simon said he slept through it but does remember in his dream that something seemed to be happening and he wondered why he was shaking!! I haven't seen Josh this morning so I don't know if he was awake. He didn't come when I called out so I assume he slept through it too.

It's strange because I always though that the UK never got earthquakes and I certainly never experienced one as a child. It was only after we moved to Peterborough that we experienced it and at the time we sort of guessed but couldn't really believe it.

The first time was in the middle of the night and we were both awake. It was much less violent than todays one but everything shook and rattled. As I said, we lay in bed talking and said we thought it was an earthquake as we didn't know what else it could be. I think we both thought though that it would be something else. We only knew for definite when we saw the news the next day.

The second time was later on that same day in the afternoon. I as walking with my friend Caroline. We were on our way to pick up the children from school and both felt the ground actually shake beneath our feet. I guess maybe that was an after shock. The other time was 2002 and that occurred at night and again we were both awake and recognised what was happening. The epicentre of that one was in Dudley, about the same distance from us and 4.8 on the scale. Last night was very much worse than what I had felt previously.

It's strange isn't it that I never heard about this or learnt about it at school. I was over 30 before I experienced it and now I have felt 4 in the last 15 years or so. Is something funny going on?

I know I didn't like it and I wouldn't want to experience anything worse. It makes you understand how terrible it must be for those who have been caught up in large earthquakes that have caused so much destruction and so many deaths. Fortunately here in the UK there is only one reported injury and not too much damage.

News report from Associated Press:

Earthquake Felt Across Parts of England

An earthquake struck Britain early Wednesday and was felt across large parts of the country. Police reported some minor damage to homes but no injuries.

The British Geological Survey said it was a 5.3-magnitude quake but the U.S. Geological Survey earlier put the magnitude at 4.7. The tembor struck at about 1 a.m. and was centered about 125 miles north of London.

Many other people in southern, central and northern England reported feeling their homes shaken by the earthquake in a country where such tremors are uncommon.

"This is a moderate earthquake," Rafael Abreu of the U.S. Geological Survey told Sky News from the United States.

He described the tremor as a shallow interplate earthquake, and said his U.S.-based group would likely adopt the 5.3-magnitude rating from his British counterparts.

The epicenter was reported to be in Market Rasen in Licolnshire, a small market town known for its racecourse.

A quake of magnitude 5 is capable of causing considerable damage. Britain is hit annually with up to 200 quakes but only 10 percent are strong enough to be felt.

That last bit seems incredible... 200! Anyway, thank goodness it wasn't worse and that there wasn't too much destruction.