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Earthquake Magnitude 4.7 - ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (UK) 27/02/08
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by Vinny | February 27, 2008 at 07:42 am
12474 views | 34 Recommendations | 21 comments
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Earthquake East Midlands UK 27/02/08Unlike all the other earthquakes I report on this blog I actually felt this one, it occured about 12.45am GMT and shook my caravan that I'm working in. I don't know how strong it was but it caused neighbours to come out on the street, I am about 17 miles from Nottingham and this is only the 3rd time in my 45 years I have felt an earthquake. If anyone has any more information please add it to the comments.
A "significant" earthquake which hit the UK resulted in at least one injury and damage likely to run into millions of pounds.
The Association of British Insurers said that the cost of damage to homes and property is likely to be in excess of £10 million.
The tremor hit at around 1am and was measured at 5.2 on the Richter scale.
Its epicentre was near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, but emergency services across the UK received calls following the incident.
Tremors have been felt across England, according to Sky News witnesses this morning.The epicentre of the expected earthquake is believed to have been 15 miles from Lincoln.
The tremor, timed at 12:56am, read 4.7 on the Reichter scale.
Reports of rooms shaking have been received from Manchester to Norfolk.
Viewers in Rugby, Oldham, London, Windsor, West Yorkshire, Blackpool and Dunstable have all recorded being awoken by the shake.
Felt it in Shropshire, too!
I was shaken awake in Middlewood, Sheffield. I have never felt an earthquake. There were people walking outside in the dark wondering what happened. Some thought it was an explosion, my first thought was that part of our apartment block had fallen down!
I've felt it as well. I live just almost in the middle of Oxford. that's one of the most weird things ever happened to me while i'm here in England....i thought it is the less sysmic place in the world...
Katie M.
To see more comments and a Google map of the epicenter use this link.
Earthquake Details Magnitude 4.7 Date-Time
- Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 00:56:45 UTC
- Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 12:56:45 AM at epicenter
- Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 53.321°N, 0.314°W Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Region ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM Distances 50 km (30 miles) S of Kingston upon Hull, England, UK
70 km (45 miles) NE of Nottingham, England, UK
80 km (50 miles) E of Sheffield, England, UK
205 km (125 miles) N of LONDON, United Kingdom
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 6.8 km (4.2 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters NST= 50, Nph= 50, Dmin=291.4 km, Rmss=1.02 sec, Gp= 54°,
M-type=body magnitude (Mb), Version=7 Source
- USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID us2008nyae
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at 17:34 on February 26th, 2008
I think this is an important story and would benefit from other NowPublic contributors working on it. I've flagged it as News Wanted and invite others in relevant locations to look for more evidence.
at 17:36 on February 26th, 2008
Thanks Vinny, haven't seen any news on this yet.
at 17:45 on February 26th, 2008
Thanks Rob, it's only just shown on the USGS feed I expect the UK news will be running it soon it was only about 20 minutes after I felt it that I posted it.
at 17:41 on February 26th, 2008
Vinny, I like this story. It's good stuff. Here is a good educational link on earthquakes
at 17:46 on February 26th, 2008
Vinny, brilliant! I've only felt one earthquake in my life and I never ever want to do that again!
at 17:55 on February 26th, 2008
Looks like the BBC just got a story up here. No new information as far as I can tell. They're saying it's unclear if there's been any damage.
"The BBC has received calls from people in Yorkshire, the
West Midlands, Manchester, Berkshire, London and Gloucestershire about
a "quake"."
at 18:00 on February 26th, 2008
That freaked me out. It was bad enough to wake up my whole house. Im from haverhill near cambridge we cant sleep now.
at 19:01 on February 26th, 2008
Hey guys. Im from leicestershire, im a very on alert kinda person and i dnt sleep to good, well i do but at night when alot of people would normally be asleep i stay awake, its just me, if im with a group of people ill try n be the last one to go to sleep. i was just going beside my normal business at around 1am on wednesday the 26th of feb, and all of a sudden everything around me just shook very vilently, i stood up and headed straight out my room, as i got up to run things stated falling down in my room that where stood upright, i didn't know what was goin on but it scared me alot, i went into my parents bedroom where i calmed down n it stopped, after i was quite shaken by the whole experience but was glad it didn't last any longer then it did as it was extreamly disturbing even the few seconds it was for! At the minute im calm now but kinda excited over what happend which is kinda of wierd i know, but im finding it a little hard to go to sleep after the experience cause its bad enough for me even when nothings happend! But i just finishing on what i have to say the moon does look kind of distubing tonight, anyone have an answers to it? any links to the tremour experienced? its almost full but very dull in colour and looks unapealing to the eye. Robs
at 00:32 on February 27th, 2008
Hi, Crowberts.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a friend who lives in Hull. He said that his house didn't shake very much. Your place sounds like it got pounded. During the 1994 Northridge quake (which was at least a 6.9) the damage patterns were very interesting. My house is about two miles from the epicenter of that quake. But other buildings, many much farther away, received serious damage while my place was not hurt as much. Our neighborhood was very severely shaken, but it seemed that the ground motion was greater at further distances. That sounds counter-intuitive until one considers the geology of the San Fernando Valley (SFV). The SFV is like a giant bowl surrounded by mountains. That bowl is filled with dirt from 10 to 15 miles deep, but the "bowl" itself is composed of bedrock. That bedrock is criss-crossed with cracks that intersect one another. The theory that Kate Hutton was talking about was that the quake occurred in that bedrock and that the energy from the quake traveled along those cracks (her description was that the cracks acted like conduits for the energy). Locations that were above an intersection of two or more cracks would experience greater shaking because the earthquake waves experienced "constructive interference" where the cracks came together. Conversely, a location situated above an area that was not cracked would not experience the constructive interference and, hence, experience less shaking. This could explain the damage patterns across the whole city after that quake. My house seems to sit above a nice, solid section of the bowl so I didn't get hammered as badly. Large apartment buildings that were eight or ten miles away from the epicenter were completely shifted off of their foundations and had to be demolished. Those buildings sat above one of these intersections. Perhaps something similar is at work with the quake in Hull. It would be interesting to investigate.
at 18:10 on February 26th, 2008
i live in norwich n ma bed shook. is there meant to be anymore? im terrified!!
at 18:25 on February 26th, 2008
Wow! The earth moved... Just found a blog that shows a map and more info - more than most news sites at the moment!
at 18:39 on February 26th, 2008
Cool, thanks for adding the link!
at 19:43 on February 26th, 2008
Vinny, thanks for all the updates. Great stuff.
at 19:48 on February 26th, 2008
If anyone has photos illustrating the effects of the quake, please post.
at 23:49 on February 26th, 2008
A friend of mine lives in Hull. I just spoke with him (February 26 at 11:20 pm PST) and he said that at least in his house there was nothing shaken from shelves or knocked over. In fact, he sounded rather unimpressed with the whole thing. It was a 4.7. Here in Los Angeles we barely even acknowledge quakes that size. At least under the San Fernando Valley, our quakes are usually 10 to 15 miles deep and a 4.7 is mild. We're also used to having larger quakes in the 6.0 to 7.0 range, when we have a quake. But if the Hull quake was not as deep, then it may well have felt much larger. The type of soil will also make a difference.
Finally, of more concern to me is falling buildings. Here in L.A. our buildings are constructed according to strict building codes that contain strong earthquake standards. Those standards are based in years of experience. But my guess would be that earthquake standards in Hull are probably not quite as strict since they don't have as many quakes as we do. I hope nobody was hurt as a result of falling brickwork or other building materials. One saving grace here is that it happened at 12:45 am. Most people were safe at home. Had the quake occurred just twelve hours earlier or later it may have caused more injuries from falling debris.
I hope this sheds a little more light on this topic.
at 00:24 on February 27th, 2008
I awoke in shock I knew it was an Earth Quake, been in one before in Greece, my house was rumbling the wardrobe sliding mirrors vibrating and slid open by 6"! What amazed me is that none of my neighbours went outside to check on there homes? The birds had started to sing as in shock too must have given them a shock too? The photo is a screen dump from Google Earth of the epicentre, I wonder who lives at this farm? details: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2008/us2008nyae/
Whosphoto has contributed a photo to this story.
at 05:43 on February 27th, 2008
Vinny, great stuff as always -- glad everyone's safe.
at 06:35 on February 27th, 2008
Vinny, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 19:51 on March 4th, 2008
i could have died!!
svsweeney has contributed a photo to this story.
at 20:21 on March 5th, 2008
Hi Vinny,
This is excellent reporting and I did follow the link to your blog, very nice I must say. :)
I lived in the heart of London for five years and if I'd felt an earthquake there, I'd seriously have to think about whether or not I was in England let alone London!
~ Swan
at 04:13 on September 30th, 2008
I live in Hornsea nr Hull, and I felt it quite strongly. My TV is a 26' n it nearly fell off the thing it was on. I couldnt get back to sleep after lol
O well x