Earthquakes in England
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Did you feel Wednesday's 1am quake? Measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, it was one of our largest, although injuries and damage were limited. But living above ground floor - as many in the capital do - does hurt your chances of getting much out of the shake.
And so we're left to read about our northern neighbours who got all of the action, and wonder a little more about the UK's seismic makeup. Do we need to worry about a Big One?
The UK has about 200 small (3.5 and below) earthquakes each year, but only 15 or so are strong enough to be felt by humans.
One of this size comes along every 30 or so years - not all that often. The last one of this size was off the shore of North Wales in 1984, and was felt in parts of England.
Most of our quakes take place in the West Midlands, where a large fault runs down the side of Birmingham, and there are two active faults along the border with Wales. However, the UK is within major crustal plates, which is why we will almost definitely never see a Big One. *
Before we leave you, five important facts about earthquakes:
* Please note that HITC Life is not a reliable source of scientific information, although we have lots of optimism to share.
The UK has about 200 small (3.5 and below) earthquakes each year, but only 15 or so are strong enough to be felt by humans.
One of this size comes along every 30 or so years - not all that often. The last one of this size was off the shore of North Wales in 1984, and was felt in parts of England.
Most of our quakes take place in the West Midlands, where a large fault runs down the side of Birmingham, and there are two active faults along the border with Wales. However, the UK is within major crustal plates, which is why we will almost definitely never see a Big One. *
Before we leave you, five important facts about earthquakes:
- Earthquakes measuring 3.5-5.4 are often felt but rarely cause extensive damage, and earthquakes under 6.0 can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over a small region.
- The earthquake of 1580 (estimated to have been between 5.2 and 5.9), which took place in the Channel, caused extensive damage, partly because of a sea swell which rose 15m.
- There are approximately 500,000 earthquakes around the world each year, and of them, 100,000 can be felt and 100 cause damage.
- The largest recorded earthquake took place in Chile in 1960, and measured 9.5. The deadliest earthquake on record took place in China in 1556 and killed approximately 830,000 people.
- Earthquakes also take place on the moon (and are called moonquakes), although they happen infrequently and are related to the tidal stress caused by the varying distances between the earth and the moon.
* Please note that HITC Life is not a reliable source of scientific information, although we have lots of optimism to share.
