Tuesday 26 February 2008

Earthquake at 00:56 a.m. Did the Earth Move for You?

Breaking news....
Here I am at the forefront of a news story...
My house just shook... Wobbled, Rattled.. Hummed...
Low frequency sound, vibration, and a very strange feeling...
Unease, foreboding, maybe this is what spooks animals in these circumstances.

Timed at about 00:56 a.m. Duration about twenty seconds.

It took a while of searching seismographs online... yes, there are some.. The British Geological Survey's site was too busy.
But
It seems there was a quake measuring approx 5.2 on the Richter scale, about 40 miles west-south-west of here.
Much of England had a brief wobble along with it.
Ho hum. Nothing seems to have fallen down.
Move along, nothing to see here folks...................

Oh. And Reuters are reporting no major injuries or damage reported- at half an hour after the event.
They're probably right, but. I suspect they're a bit quick in publishing, because if there were major chaos going on, I think it might take longer than that to check and say everything is fine.
Back to bed then.
Good Night All.

Data from USGS http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/
Magnitude4.7
Date-Time
Location53.321°N, 0.314°W
Depth10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
RegionENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
Distances50 km (30 miles) S of Kingston upon Hull, England, UK
70 km (45 miles) NE of Nottingham, England, UK
80 km (50 miles) E of Sheffield, England, UK
205 km (125 miles) N of LONDON, United Kingdom
Location Uncertaintyhorizontal +/- 6.8 km (4.2 miles); depth fixed by location program
ParametersNST= 50, Nph= 50, Dmin=291.4 km, Rmss=1.02 sec, Gp= 54°,
M-type=body magnitude (Mb), Version=7
Source
  • USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event IDus20

British Geological Survey Seismology Report later in the day gives magnitude as 5.2 richter.
PRESS RELEASE
27 February 2008
England hit by Earthquake
The British Geological Survey (BGS) recorded an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 (ML) on the Richter scale near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire at 00:56 GMT. The BGS has been inundated with calls from the public, media and emergency services throughout England.
Summary:
DATE : 27 February 2008
ORIGIN TIME : 00:56 GMT
LAT/LONG : 53.39° North / 0.35° West
GRID REF : 509.9 kmE / 389.0 kmN
DEPTH : 10 km
MAGNITUDE : 5.2 Richter Scale (ML)
LOCALITY : Market Rasen, Lincolnshire