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Loughborough Earthquake
Posted on 27/02/08
P. Klein
At 0:56am this morning (Wednesday 27th February 2008) Loughborough was rocked by an earthquake.
The tremor, the epicentre of which is now known to be 45 miles north east of Nottingham in the vicinity of Lincoln, shook building vigorously and caused numerous residents to go into the streets to check that their buildings were OK.
Minor earthquakes such as this one happen occasionally in Loughborough, the last one being in 2001. The event in 2001 did do some damage to properties in the area. The first writen record of an earthquake hitting Loughborough recorded the date as 28th October 1784.
One resident, Brian, told inLoughborough shortly after the event: I was watching the television when all of a sudden things started falling off the shelves. It is bound to have caused some damage to older properties. Ive never witnessed one quite as strong before. It was a real bone shaker. The last time it happened there were after shocks 5 or 10 minutes later so I recon there will be some more.
Helen Gandy who also witnessed the event said: I was just getting ready to go to bed when the wall started coming towards me. I thought that a lorry or something had hit the house. I went outside and all I could see were people looking out of their windows
The earthquake was not limited however to the Loughborough area and early reports indicate that it was felt in Leicestershire, Bedfordshire and East Anglia. Emails have already been received by our newsdesk from people near Wakefield and Nuneaton saying they felt the shock there.
Additional 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
Location
53.321N, 0.314W
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
Further information added after original news article:
1:41am: "Morning Im Nick in Ossett near Wakefield and it was felt here too very strong, shock the place. Most frightening"
1:41am: "We felt the earthquake in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. We clearly heard the rumble coming towards us, we thought it was a lorry going past and then the building shook. Dan"
2:05am: "Ive also felt the minor earthquake this morning in Tottenham North London. I live in a flat and suddenly felt that the building was shaking. It only lasted about 5 seconds and approx. intensity 2. I knew it was an earthquake because Ive experienced loads of earthquakes in Philippines before. Richard"
2:09am: "I felt the quake in Middlesbrough. My wardrobes and chest of drawers were shaking in the bedroom. It lasted a minute or so. Mahmood"
2:15am: "Just read your report on the tremor tonight.We felt it, tables shook, the bed and wardrobes shook. We live in Northwich, Cheshire.It took me 30 minutes to find any new about it. Gavin"
2:27am: "Was also felt in Derbyshire (Belper), where it rattled glass doors in a
display unit, and movement was felt through the floor.Adrian"
2:56am: "Hi, I have just read your earthquake report from Loughborough. We also felt it in Stratford-upon-Avon at approx. 12:57am this morning. I was (and still am) on my pc when suddenly a very slow rumble passed through the house and the walls started to shake. I just sat there waiting for the shelves to fall off the wall onto my head!! I wasnt sure if it really was an earthquake but checked on Google News for about half an hour when your report appeared at least I know Im not going mad!James"