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View Full Version : Did You Feel the UK Earthquake ?


Rayne Man
02-27-2008, 01:35 AM
I did. I was woken up at just before one o'clock by a loud roaring noise and the house shaking. Evidently it was a about 5.1 on the Richter Scale, with the epicentre In Market Rasen, which is about 25 miles from where we live.

chowder
02-27-2008, 01:41 AM
I sure did. I was in bed just drifting off when the place started shaking, I almost shat myself and I'm pretty certain Eccles, the cat, did

movingfinger
02-27-2008, 01:50 AM
Coming up next: parts two and three of the California Experience: Brush Fires and Mudslides.

Quartz
02-27-2008, 01:58 AM
I certainly felt it here. I too was just drifting off. Curiously, I felt it progress from East to West. Maybe I got a reflection from the hard rock underneath the airport?

Mangetout
02-27-2008, 02:10 AM
Southampton. A pack of printer paper fell off a shelf - startled me a bit, but I thought nothing more of it.

One And Only Wanderers
02-27-2008, 02:19 AM
Bolton,

nope slept like a baby.

chowder
02-27-2008, 03:10 AM
According to BBC Ceefax it was the biggest to hit Merrie England in 25 years.

Obviously it avoided Bolton what with the place being the back of beyond and all that. :D

Innit?

chowder
02-27-2008, 03:11 AM
Coming up next: parts two and three of the California Experience: Brush Fires and Mudslides.

Tsunamis, we demand tsunamis

Dervorin
02-27-2008, 03:16 AM
Tsunamis, we demand tsunamis
And hurricanes?

London; didn't feel a thing. I was astonished when I opened this post; didn't even know there had been an earthquake.

AngelicGemma
02-27-2008, 03:59 AM
Manchester.

Didn't feel a thing.

kferr
02-27-2008, 04:01 AM
Farnborough, Hants. It woke me up. It seemed like a low frequency side-to-side sway.

One And Only Wanderers
02-27-2008, 04:13 AM
According to BBC Ceefax it was the biggest to hit Merrie England in 25 years.

Obviously it avoided Bolton what with the place being the back of beyond and all that. :D

Innit?


having spoen to other locals, apparently it was felt here. I just sleep quite deeply it seems.

chowder
02-27-2008, 04:16 AM
Manchester.

Didn't feel a thing.

:confused: :confused:

One And Only Wanderers
02-27-2008, 04:20 AM
:confused: :confused:


just because you're startled awake when a passing mouse trips over a twig.....

jjimm
02-27-2008, 04:34 AM
I was awake sitting up during it and felt nothing. There was a picture knocked over on its back in the kitchen that I blamed the cat for, that might have been something to do with it though.

Pushkin
02-27-2008, 04:36 AM
The population of the East coast of Northern Ireland was supposed to have felt something, enough for the local radio stations to keep playing Carole King's "I feel the earth move under my feet" a few times :rolleyes:

Capt. Ridley's Shooting Party
02-27-2008, 04:58 AM
Edinburgh - nothing. A cat was going bonkers outside, though, at about the same time, so perhaps it felt something?

Martiju
02-27-2008, 05:36 AM
Worcester - house shook and things rattled for about 5 seconds. Bit startling but oddly I thought (in my half-asleep state) 'oh, an earthquake' then went to sleep. Cat was a bit concerned too!

Lust4Life
02-27-2008, 05:49 AM
Earthquake?I just thought it was my bitch responding to the L4L Luuurve machine honey.

glee
02-27-2008, 06:12 AM
I'm in Rutland (East Midlands) - I knew nothing about it.

Now the Great Storm of 1987 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/forecasters/michael_fish_1987storm.shtml) was different - I was in Hastings and lost loads of roof tiles, the town's power wnet out and the streets were blocked by fallen trees...

Rayne Man
02-27-2008, 07:15 AM
At least something interesting has happened in Lincolnshire for a change. I have just spent the morning in Sleaford and people were speaking of nothing else.

jjimm
02-27-2008, 07:59 AM
At least something interesting has happened in Lincolnshire for a change. I have just spent the morning in Sleaford and people were speaking of nothing else....and won't be for the next 30 years.

hammos1
02-27-2008, 08:42 AM
At least something interesting has happened in Lincolnshire for a change.You said it. I was just nodding off on the 4th floor of a 300-year old hotel in Holbeach, about 50 miles from the epicentre. I slept through the 1984 North Wales quake so I was quite pleased to witness this one, once I had decided the hotel was not about to collapse. About 30 seconds of being gently shaken- rather enjoyable, really.

Rayne Man
02-27-2008, 09:08 AM
Time, I think, to resurrect this from the Dudley Earthquake in 2002 :-

Dudley Earthquake Appeal

A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE MEASURING 4.8 ON THE RICHTER SCALE, HIT IN THE EARLY
HOURS OF MONDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER 2002 EPICENTERED ON DUDLEY, WEST
MIDLANDS

Victims can be seen wandering aimlessly muttering : "Yam Orwight?",
"Boing Boing" and "Bostin". The Earthquake decimated the area, causing
approximately £30 worth of damage. Several priceless collections of
mementos from the Balearics and Spanish costas were damaged. Three
area of historic and scientifically significant litter were disturbed

Many were woken well before their giro arrived. Thousands are confused
and bewildered, trying to come to terms with the fact that something
interesting has happened in Dudley

One resident, Donna-Marie Dutton, a 17 year old mother-of-three said
"It was such a shock, little Chantal-Leanne came running into my bedroom
crying. My youngest two, Tyler-Morgan and Megan-Storm slept through it.
I was still shaking when I was watching Trisha the next morning."

Apparently though, looting did carry on as normal.

The British Red Cross have so far managed to ship 4000 crates of Sunny
Delight to the area to help the stricken masses.
Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble and have found
large quantities of personal belongings including benefit books and
jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos.

* HOW YOU CAN HELP

This appeal is to raise clothing and food parcels for those unfortunate
enough to be caught up in it.

Clothing is most sought after.
Items required include: -
Flat caps
Donkey Jackets
Heavy Twill Trousers (Male)
Shell Suits (Female)
Boots.
Food parcels may be harder to put together but necessary all the same.

Required foodstuffs include: -
Faggots
Grey Peas
Pork Scratchings
Tripe and Onions
Black Pudding
Banks's Bitter or Mild

£2 buys chips, scraps and blue pop for a family of four



£10 can take a family to Stourport for the day, where children can play
on an unspoiled canal bank among the national collection of stinging
nettles
22p buys a biro for filling in a spurious compensation claim

Please do not send tents for shelter, as the sight of "posh" housing is
unfair on the population of neighbouring areas of Gornal, Oldbury and
Sedgley.

chowder
02-27-2008, 09:57 AM
My God Rayne Man I had forgotten all about the Dudley Earthquake.

How did those poor souls endure such horrors, surely they must have been traumatised for life

shefDave
02-27-2008, 09:59 AM
I swear if one more colleague/classmate/random acquaintance makes a "joke" relating to the earth having moved or not moved for them last night there is gonna be blood.

I have just spent the morning in Sleaford
What did you do to deserve that?

MJinks
02-27-2008, 10:07 AM
Peterborough - Yep, I was still awake when it hit, although I didn't realise it was an earthquake until I woke up and people were talking about it.

I thought maybe it was a large convoy of trucks going by on the nearby motorway, it seemed the more reasonable explanation at the time...

Rayne Man
02-27-2008, 10:16 AM
What did you do to deserve that?

I did get time off for good behaviour !

Szlater
02-27-2008, 10:53 AM
And hurricanes?

London; didn't feel a thing. I was astonished when I opened this post; didn't even know there had been an earthquake.

Me too and I was wide awake at the reported time of the earthquake.

seosamh
02-27-2008, 10:54 AM
Ealing, West London - near the Great Western main line, under the Heathrow flightpath, within a mile of a police station, a fire station and a hospital with an A&E department.

Normally I am such a light sleeper that I am woken if a fly farts three streets away. Definitely heard the Buncefield explosion.

But slep soundly through that 'quake.

glee
02-27-2008, 12:33 PM
I'm in Rutland (East Midlands) - I knew nothing about it.

Now the Great Storm of 1987 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/forecasters/michael_fish_1987storm.shtml) was different - I was in Hastings and lost loads of roof tiles, the town's power wnet out and the streets were blocked by fallen trees...

I've now spoken to colleagues and apparently I was awake when the earthquake hit. I was playing games on the computer and thought there was some animal rattling the back door.

Asimovian
02-27-2008, 12:41 PM
*sigh*

You people call THAT an earthquake?

:D

AndLuna
02-27-2008, 12:41 PM
Manchester. I felt it; thought at first someone was trying to break into the house, then I thought maybe the people next door were moving heavy furniture. Then I thought "why would they be doing that at one in the morning? Weirdos."

Rayne Man
02-27-2008, 12:48 PM
*sigh*

You people call THAT an earthquake?

:D

Typical Yank "My earthquake's bigger than yours"

Hogwash
02-27-2008, 01:00 PM
Bath here, it woke me up. I hadn't been asleep for long and was woken by the window rattling (I've got the common Bath sash windows that rattle when a mouse coughs at them) and my bed swaying. It was a strange wobbling sensation, like being on a water bed (although, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever tried out a water bed).

It was one of those half-awake "is this really happening?" moments; I put it down to imagination and went back to sleep, not realising until I saw the news this morning that some quaking shit did go down after all.

Same story with the Buncefield explosion - I woke up thinking it was a nightmare and went back to sleep pretty quickly.

I love how the OMG WORST EARTHQUAKE in 1/4 CENTURY! resulted in one injured pelvis. How craptacularly British.

bonzer
02-27-2008, 01:14 PM
It was pretty obvious here in north London, even though it was just the building slightly swaying one way and then back again. Not much more severe than a large lorry thumping past the road outside, but a much smoother motion than such a judder. And no noise.

Had never felt an earthquake tremor before, but it was distinct enough that I quickly guessed that's what it was.

Alive At Both Ends
02-27-2008, 01:45 PM
Milton Keynes - I went zzzzz right through it. I did feel thr Dudley quake in 2002 though.

brujaja
02-27-2008, 02:32 PM
Obviously it avoided Bolton what with the place being the back of beyond and all that. :D

Nope, didn't feel a thing here. (see location.)

Actually, I'm in California too, but I won't ridicule you about English vs. Cali earthquakes.

It's much more fun to make fun of transplanted New Yorkers who freak out when we have earthquakes here. :D

Seriously, I didn't even know you had them in the UK.

Racer1
02-27-2008, 02:59 PM
It woke me up in north London, though I do suspect my block of flats is made out of cornflake boxes sometimes. I valiantly battered the poltergeist with the first thing to hand - a stupid snake cuddly toy thing from London Zoo - before deciding I dreamt it and went back to sleep. Earthquake never occurred to me until I saw the news this morning.

Seriously, I didn't even know you had them in the UK.

Nor did we (except the 1,056 smartarses about to come in and correct me).

AngelicGemma
02-27-2008, 03:35 PM
:confused: :confused:

I slept through it. Although I'm apparently the only one in my office who did. It was the talk of the water cooler.

jsc1953
02-27-2008, 06:24 PM
Only about half of the Dudley Earthquake post was intelligible, but I could tell it was funny. Someone here could do an American translation.

As a native Californian, I will magnanimously descend upon this thread and grant that a 5.1 is noteworthy, even in California.

chowder
02-28-2008, 01:34 AM
We have about 200 each year in the UK but the vast number of these are so small as to be likened to a bee landing on a nettle and screaming "ouch"

Illuminatiprimus
02-28-2008, 05:37 AM
Wimbledon in south London and I slept through it.

Funny thing about this, reading through the comments on the BBC website after some points made about the damage and injuries someone posted "Imagine what would happen if we had a REAL earthquake in this country, we wouldn't know what to do!". Well the reason people "don't know what to do" in an earthquake in the uK is because this isn't a country that suffers from them - duh! 5 on the richter scale and some minor damage to buildings is about as serious as it gets.

Unless they find a fault running through Birmingham or something I think we should be more worried about other pressing issues, like flooding perhaps.

chowder
02-28-2008, 05:57 AM
Unless they find a fault running through Birmingham or something I think we should be more worried about other pressing issues, like flooding perhaps.

Ah but there is a fault running through Brummigham, It's known as Villa Park

Illuminatiprimus
02-28-2008, 08:19 AM
Ah but there is a fault running through Brummigham, It's known as Villa Park

Ba da boom chish.

Lobsang
02-28-2008, 08:24 AM
Isle of Man.

I felt it. It was very slight though

Angua
02-28-2008, 08:30 AM
Milton Keynes - I went zzzzz right through it. I did feel thr Dudley quake in 2002 though.

The 2002 Dudley quake happened on my first night in Birmingham as a grad student. At that time, my new place was about 12 miles from the epicentre. Was woken up to see the entire room swaying from side to side. I was seriously spooked till the next morning...