By Laura Moulden
An earthquake struck the east Midlands this morning (Friday, January 18th), the British Geological Survey (BGS) has reported.
The tremor occurred at approximately 5.20am and was felt across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
But at 2.9-magnitude, it has been described as ‘average’ for the UK. Julian Bukits of the BGS said:
“Earthquakes generally have to be of 4.5 to 5 magnitude to cause damage.”
He went on to compare today’s seismic activity to the 8.9 earthquake that caused the Japanese tsunami in 2011 as “a million times weaker”.
The epicentre of the activity, which occurred about 13km (8 miles) below ground, was near Loughborough, Leicestershire.
Mike Flood, 45, who lives in Loughborough, described how his house “creaked” as the phenomenon “almost like a plane going over or an explosion in the distance” struck. And a Leicester resident told of how a number of DVDs fell off his shelves.
A spokesman for the county’s fire and rescue services confirmed that no damage or injuries had been reported and they had not been called out to any incidents following the tremor.
