East Midlands earthquake in Oakham was 3.8 magnitude
- Published
Kids describe their earthquake experiences
A small earthquake was recorded in the East Midlands on Wednesday night.
The epicentre of the magnitude 3.8 quake was near the town of Oakham, in Rutland, at 10:25pm.
People living there reported feeling buildings shake and vibrations which lasted for as long as 10 seconds.
It's the second in England in two days: an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.9 was recorded in Hampshire in the south of England, on Tuesday.
Seismologist Steve Hicks explains how earthquakes are measured
Earthquake experts at the British Geological Survey (BGS), based in Edinburgh, said they had 1,400 reports so far from people who felt the Oakham earthquake.
One person in Rutland told them it "sounded like a really large bomb had just gone off" and there was a "build up of rumbling and the house shook really violently".
'Like Jurassic Park'
Another said it was "like a loud explosion" and they looked for cracks in their house.
There are more than 100,000 earthquakes of between 3.0 and 3.9 around the world each year.
But these quakes are more than 1,000 times weaker than the strongest earthquake recorded in the UK in recent years. That was in Lincolnshire on 27 February 2008, with a magnitude of 5.2.
The strongest earthquake ever recorded in the UK was 60 miles out to sea, near the Dogger Bank off the east coast of England, in 1931.
Other people reported books moving on shelves, dogs growling uneasily and "significant vibration" lasting for about 10 seconds.
One person in Grantham, Lincolnshire, reported they could see rings in a glass they were drinking from: "a bit like in Jurassic Park when the T Rex chases the car!"
The tremor comes after two earthquakes were recorded near Oakham in April last year.
The first, on 17 April, 2014, measured 3.2 in magnitude, followed by a second tremor the following day, which measured 3.5 in magnitude.
- Published24 August 2011
