Minor earthquake shakes England

February 27, 2008



The United Kingdom was hit by a minor earthquake on February 27, 2008 at 00:56:45 UTC. Tremors were reported as wide spread as Edinburgh, Manchester, Sheffield, Middlesbrough, Cambridge, London, Birmingham and Southampton.

The epicentre appears to be in the East Midlands region, 15 miles north-east of Lincoln co-ordinates 53.321°N, 0.314°W, with a magnitude of 4.9 according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, 5.0 according to the GFZ Potsdam, 4.7 according to USGS, and 5.2 according to the British Geological Survey. As such it was similar or stronger than the 2002 earthquake centred on Dudley which was recorded as being 4.8 and caused damage to buildings.

There was also an aftershock at about 0400 GMT reaching 1.8 on the Richter Scale.

It has been reported that a number of buildings have been damaged and a man in South Yorkshire suffered a broken pelvis caused by falling masonry.

Strong earthquakes are relatively infrequent occurrences in the UK, the last widely-reported quake having occurred in Kent on April 28, 2007. The British Geological Survey reported that ... "earthquakes of this size occur in the mainland UK roughly every 30 years, although are more common in offshore areas". They also reported that ... "this is the largest earthquake in the UK since the magnitude 5.4 ML Lleyn Peninsula earthquake in 1984, which was widely felt across England and Wales."