Earthquake Shakes Homes In Cumbria

8:49am UK, Wednesday December 22, 2010

Huw Borland, Sky News Online

A 3.5 magnitude earthquake has shaken homes across Cumbria, the US Geological Survey has confirmed.

The USGS said the tremor happened just before 11pm. It lasted up to 20 seconds, according to people in the area.

The earthquake's epicentre was 30 miles south-southwest of Carlisle and 75 miles west-southwest of Newcastle.

Data from the British Geological Survey showed the location of the tremor as Coniston, Cumbria, 5.6 miles southwest of Ambleside, and with a depth of 8.9 miles.

Michael St John told Sky News how items had been rocked off the tops of wardrobes at his home in Kendal, south of Carlisle.

It is something that will be roundly felt in the area... but, quite fortunately, it's not any bigger than it is."

The USGS' Dale Grant

He said: "We were just sitting here quietly watching the telly, then suddenly there was a sort of thumping noise.

"It sounded like the next-door neighbours running upstairs, and then it just got louder and louder and the house physically started to shake."

Karen Dickinson, of North Lancashire, told Sky: "The furniture started shaking in the house. The children were upstairs playing on the Wii and came running down. They were quite scared."

The USGS' Dale Grant told Sky that seismic activity was "not uncommon for the area".

Earthquakes in Britain:

:: Six recorded within 50km of the latest earthquake - two had a magnitude of 3.7, in 1988 and 2009.

:: Dumfries in Scotland suffered a tremor measuring 3.5 on Boxing Day in 2006.

:: Kent (pictured) also saw an earthquake measuring 4.3 in April 2007.

Source: USGS' Susan Potter

He said: "We have had 'quakes dating back to 1976. This is a seismically active area.

"The largest that we have ever recorded is a 4.3 (magnitude tremor) on November 21, 2002."

Mr Grant said the 3.5 magnitude tremor, initially reported to be 3.6, "would have got people's attention".

"But this is not the type of magnitude that would lead to extensive damage," he continued.

"It is something that will be roundly felt in the area... but, quite fortunately, it's not any bigger than it is."

People who felt the earthquake described the sensation with a flurry of online activity on Twitter.

"Tremor in Ambleside...felt and heard a rumble," one tweeted.

Another posted: "So it seems like we have just had an earthquake in Milnthorpe, doors rattling, house shook. Exciting."

USGS geophysicist Susan Potter said, in the past 40 years, six earthquakes had been recorded within 50km of the latest earthquake.