UK Earthquake, February 2008, Magnitude 4.7

quakewhitet.jpgJust felt what at first I thought was a heavy gust of wind but what then very quickly became an earthquake. We’re in Leeds but quickly got reports from friends over instant messenger, irc and twitter that it’s been felt elsewhere in Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield and Nottingham.

I’m hearing the collective throat clearing of every geologist in the country in preparation for various TV and radio interviews.

I personally have been expecting the end of days for a few years now and am well prepared in the form of:

  • 5 torches
  • high capacity Internet link
  • several comfortable cushions
  • a good stock of tea
  • prayer books for all the best gods

http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/monitoring/bgs_stations_map.html is currently inaccessible.

From emsc:

Magnitude M 4.7
Region ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
English Midlands
Date time 2008-02-27 at 00:56:46.0 UTC
Location 53.25 N ; 0.45 W
Depth 65 km
Distances 56 km S Kingston upon hull (pop 302,296 ; local time 00:56 2008-02-27)
7 km E Lincoln (pop 89,228 ; local time 00:56 2008-02-27)
2 km S Sudbrooke (pop 1,640 ; local time 00:56 2008-02-27)

My twitter feed is here btw: http://twitter.com/johnleach Mostly just nonsense though.

More links:

Comments

mibmob says:

It was strong in Manchester all the everything in the room was shaking 2-3 cm back and too for about 6 seconds… looking out of the window and all the neigbours were doing the same.

ymix says:

it was strong im in leicester and i was sh*t scared mad stuff

robin hood says:

Very scarey and very strong in Sherwood, Nottingham.

I’m glad the blogs were here to share the experience.

really weird feeling when terra firma moves like waves.

Prad says:

I din feel any tremor, i was walkin on the streets……… when m back home, my house mate told me that there was an earth quake and the room was shaking.

Prad says:

i live in stoke on trent.

daniel says:

27-02-2008 i live in Roundhay in Leeds and i felt an earthquake for about 4 seconds…like a rumbling… my mum thought i was going mad when i woke her up and told her…

anyone else in leeds feel it? rodionromanovichraskolnikov@bluebottle.com

Mark says:

John, found you after trying to see what Google was picking up as to what happened. It picked up my blog and yours it seems – but not a lot else seems to give much detail. BBC website – poor; The Sun website – bit better with people’s comments; Sky News – not much. Looks like you and I are leading the news!

Mavi says:

I felt my bed shaking and i asked my hubby if he felt it- I freaked out wondering what was going on and the internet went down. But nothing else in the room was shaking! He said he must have made the earth move for me ;)

Im glad to read others felt it and i wasnt going crazy. I tried to wobble my bed myself but it was so firm on the ground, I thought maybe I imagined it!

Its true – the world is coming to an end. The Quran foretells signs of earthquakes and floodings when the end is near.

stacie says:

i felt it in coventry really strong, didnt know what was going on!

Fe says:

Aye up. I’m from Leeds too and it was proper scary man! The whole house moved…just like in the movies! lol seriously though it was unreal! 4.7, but then some guy on Five Live said nearer the epecentre (however you spell it near Grimsby) it was more like5.1.! And I can believe that!

Now we can look forward to after shocks, hmmm nice…NOT.

Jan says:

I don’t think a high speed internet link will really help in a big one. Scared the sh*t out of my dog though – and I live in Derbyshire.

Here in Liverpool we thought it was the upstairs neighbors at first. It was surprising that there were no car alarms going off. It was a weird “wobbling” sensation rather than a tremor. Very odd.

Fe says:

LOL, flippin ‘eck! I have just looked at the time when I posted. I’d better get to bed. Sleep safely and well peeps. If the earth moves, you are either having a really good time (hehe, wink, wink) or its the aftershocks.

Josephine says:

Felt it in Fareham Hampshire, items on desk wobbled and felt in through my chair and partner noticed the TV shake whilst watching,

Jenni says:

heya, in Manchester rite now and I thought it was some big person running pass my apartment until my parents (in Hull) rang me. Wow, never thought I would ever feel an earthquake.

Eddie says:

Was asleep on the settee…. woke at 00.50am and thought time for bed. At approx 00:56 quake occurred. Was looking at TV and it wobbled laft and right for about 3-4 seconds and entire floor vibrated. Wierd experience. If it had gone on any longer I would have crapped myself, but it was still pretty scary.

gareth says:

Laid in bed reading a Top Gear mag near sheffield and i thought it was a flipping plane coming down on to my house. Started with what sounded like a truck going past the house then it was getting louder and louder and i was omg what the hell then all my stuff stated moving lol. Funny now like.

Eddie says:

Am in Ormskirk by the Way.

J.P says:

I can’t get back to sleep so thought I’d check internet – so glad I found this as I thought I had imagined it – even though my kids were woken up too. (Husband slept through it and wondered what all the fuss was about) It felt quite strong here in Nuneaton, Warks and was loud, at first I thought it was an exposion. Very scary! Better get back to bed or it will soon be time to get up!

esmail says:

Woke up by it and carnt sleep now thought it was a dream at first. Was very powerfull inmanchester my bed shook for about 6 seconds

rollingcock says:

Im in london, it started shaking, i new something was wrong so i stood up. My bro walked in and i shouted GET OUT!!!!! we ran as fast as we could stuff was falling all around us, my cat was 4 foot in the air. As we got downstairs it was so strong my hands started falling off. My bro said KEEP GOING but i couldnt because had shat my self and needed to wipe. I ran back upstairs to the toilet but the was no paper so we popped round to the shop but it and been thrown 200 feet into the air and was bouncing around like a pogo stick. Then we went home and watched music and lyrics.

Rach says:

I was already awake, I heard what sounded like a gust of wind which made my door rattle. That happens a lot so i ignored it, then my whole room and bed was shaking quite violently for about 5-10 seconds. It was scary.
Happened at 1.00-1.04am South Manchester.

rollingcock says:

yer rach shat me up royaly

nina says:

was doing some work in the bed room everything started to shake oh my god ilive in rochdale it wa scary

George says:

Felt like nothing here in manchester…I grew up in Athens and felt proper earthquakes upto 7. But then of course in greece buildings are build with reinforced concrete.

I wouldn’t worry about this one which is probably caused buy a cave collapsing. I understand it can be scary to people not used to tremors, but 4.7 is only a light earthquake and its unlikely to cause any damage.

Richter scale is tricky to understand but magnitutes upto 5 are relatively harmless. After that it gets dangerous!!!!!

look here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale

and a very good link
http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
click on the circle over uk to see todays earthquake, and then look down over poor Greece being bombarded by a lot stronger earthquakes all the time. Recent ones of 6.7 (a dangerous point) but greece is still standing quite safe and nobody is paniking….its a common thing down there.

andy says:

Scary shit that was a big one! That totally caught me off guard! Woke up to everything shaking! Crazy and im in Nottingham

Wayne says:

i was in halifax in a third floor flat, my couch started vibrating i thought maybe it was someone upstairs or nelow stomping around, until the whole room started shaking, scary stuff

Sinsola says:

A picture frame fell off the book shelf *ironically one of me* and samshed on the floor and my sister just said very calmy ‘earthquake’
I looked at her and was about to say ‘don’t be silly’ until the whole house began to shake for like 6 seconds and me and joe just clung onto eachother darting our gaze all around the room I was just expecting the house to fall in, my sister kept saying ‘it’s alright’ trying to calm us down through it and now everyone in the house can’t sleep.
I find it quite suprising that she was so mature about it as she is younger than me 0.o

jo says:

Manchester- shaked for a while was funny my mrs just said stop shaking obviously that wasn’t me then we relised my mate in student halls was evacuated funny stuff but all is good.

Caroline says:

I was asleep, in preston lancashire, it woke me up. The bed was shaking i could hear everything in the house rattling. Didnt last long. Very scary!

chaba says:

Hi
It was well strong in Rotherham very scary

Barbara says:

very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very SCARY!!!

jake says:

i live near preston and i felt the shake quite badly whilst lay in bed..i was scared!!

nag says:

Its amazing to read and try to understand, I did not know so many people did not know how to speak in english in the U.k……amazing….are you sure your first language is english because mine is not…:)

Heidi Taylor says:

OMG i was talking to a few people on msn when it happened one from near mansfield the other norwich. i felt a few small ones cos my dog barked then all of a sudden my bed started shaking and all of my wardrobes banging the works… my dog started growling an amazing feeling. my boyfriend didnt belive me!!

dominick dobson says:

excuse me but if u r a geek then please get ur facts right because the earthquake that happened at 12:55am was a 5.2 on the ricterscale

George says:

That’s right it was a 5.2, but at the time of my post it was only reported as 4.7 It usually takes a few hours to get all the data from all the seismographs and the time it happened (12.55am) did not help much speed-wise.

I have studied Environmental Science, so i don’t find it difficult to understand these texts. I wouldn’t call myself a geek though…anybody can do it. as for my mother tongue it is Greek, I’ve learned English here in the UK

Callum says:

i sleep on a sofa bed and my bed folded up because it was that strong i am in scunthorpe,

Collyflower says:

I heard it was big and the people in Uk were scared

tsakai says:

Hi. I live in Japan, and am familiar to some of natural disasters such as earthquakes, typoons, eruptions and so on (Unfortunately, there are so many disasters in Japan, as you know). And I think that your preparation is very good idea. In Japan, “emergency kit” or “survival kit” is popular goods. So I can tell you the contents of that kit, for your interest.

1) Electric torch
— Yes, you’re right. But I think 5 torches are too much. A torch is enough. And you’d better to have more dry batteries.
2) Cushions
— Not bad. Although some brankets are better.
3) Portable radio (or portable TV)
— Portable radio maybe more useful than internet devices like Laptop PCs. In such a occasion, you should listen to BBC radio (We Japanese listen to NHK when some disaster hits us). Or smartphone maybe useful, too.
4) Some foods and water
— These are most important. Tea? Oh, you are good briton ;-). You must have 1.8litre of water per a day, and must have them much as enough for 3 days.
5) First aid kit
— Contains Band-Aid(R), analgesics, disinfectant alchol, etc.

there maybe any more things, but I can’t remember them.

The Book? Okay, you are good devout Christian.
But I think there are more important things than the Book. Only our wisdom and willing help us.

Sorry for my poor English, because I am familiar to the disasters but not familiar to English language.

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