Moderate earthquake shakes Britain
Wednesday, 27 February 2008 22:14
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 shook parts of England and Wales this morning but there are no reports of fatalities or serious damage.
The quake struck at 12.56am and many people in London and other areas said they had been woken up by the tremor.
Its epicentre was between Market Rasen, in Lincolnshire, and the coastal town of Grimsby.
Quakes are uncommon in Britain and this was the strongest for nearly a quarter of a century.
In the northern English town of Barnsley, a man was hospitalised after a chimney collapsed and plunged through the roof of his bedroom.
No injuries were reported in London while some minor damage was reported in Lincolnshire.
The quake was the largest to hit Britain since one with a magnitude of 5.4 hit Nefyn, north Wales, in 1984.
'This is a significant earthquake for the UK and will have been widely felt across England and Wales,' said seismologist Brian Baptie of the British Geological Survey.
- Nine News: Martina Fitzgerald reports on the impact of last night's earthquake, centred in Lincolnshire, which was the strongest in Britain for almost a quarter of a century
- One News: Brian O'Connell, London Editor, reports that nobody was killed but the cost of damage to property is likely to be over €50m
- Six One News: Brian O'Connell, London Editor, reports that the quake's epicentre was in Lincolnshire and it measured 5.2 on the Richter scale
