Just a quick one, but I was shocked to see that Kent had been struck by an Earthquake measuring 4.3 - anyone in that area (I know of one member) I hope everything is ok. It's not a huge earthquake, but it's pretty rare. Last one on this scale was 5 years ago in Dudley. It is reported that 30 people have been injured (not how bad, but probably shock and minor injuries). Structural damage, cracks in ceilings / walls and disruption to services (? didn't specify whether rail or utilities).
a quake in England?! Unheard of! In the U 99.9% of the buildings aren't quake-proof (they don't need to be, given that there are no quakes here), which would mean damages even by a small one! good to hear that no one got seriously injured
Radio 4 are suggesting that insurance companies WILL pay out for damages. Good news for those affected. Did you see the damage in London when that mini-tornado hit 1 street at the end of last year, beginning of this? It ripped the side off one house completely. I mean it demolished the bloody thing! My old house used to rattle when a bus went past in low gear far-or-less be expected to survive a small earthquake!
i remeber the dudley one a few years back, im about 12 miles away, woke my son up and he was scared to death by it! even had a few roof tile dislodged because of it, even tho we were a few miles away. im convinced the end of the world is drawing nearer!
I'm based literally a few miles from the alleged 'epicentre', trouble was I was driving / using a JCB digger at the time (08.18GMT) and never felt a thing, but several people came running up to me telling me about how bad it was, I thought they were having a laugh! ...Then I heard on the radio that people like 70 miles away could feel it, lol.
It was in my town. Yeah, it is quite a shock. You don't really know what it is, because we very rarely get earthquakes in England, certainly of any magnitude. It makes you think that it could have been an explosion... but it shook for too long.... unless something had fallen down that was massive, or imploded. And the Channel Tunnel is visible from my window.......
Now THERE IS a scary thought! I've only felt 1 earthquake, but it was so minor it was just like a heavy lorry passing. That was way back when I was at primary school. Tiny earthquakes are fairly common in Scotland as you have the Great Glen fault running the length of Scotland from Inverness right down through Loch Ness and down to the West Coast. It actually passes through Shetland in the furthest North of Britain and then down through Arran, which is ironic as on 3 separate occassions, in three very different parts of Scotland, my parents have lived almost on top of the fault. They felt nothing! Certainly nothing on the scale of todays quake in Kent. OE I'd imagine had you felt any movement at all, and you were on site with the JCB it might have been quite a worrying moment as your immediate thought would be "Shit, did I hit a gas mains!"
Earthquakes happen from time to time, but since the UK is not on a fault-line we never get them very badly or very often. Hope all in Kent haven't suffered from damage and so on.
The Channel Tunnel is one of the few things in the UK that is quake-proof. Built to withstand up to 7 on the Richter scale. Southern England might be flattened in a quake of that magintude, but at least we could all flee to France in the comfort of our own cars in under 35 minutes ;-)
