UK hit by earthquakes that left residents ‘frightened’: Should you be worried?

The British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed an earthquake that happened on the night of Friday, February 24. Though it had a low magnitude of 3.8, people were left terrified.

Britain only gets about one earthquake with a magnitude of 3.7 or greater each year and the largest one ever recorded in the country - with a magnitude of 6.1 - took place in the North Sea in 1931.

The tremors were felt for 100 miles

The epicentre of the earthquake was north of Brynmawr, Blaenau Gwent, and west of Crickhowell, Powys in South Wales but people on Twitter reported feeling it as far away as Birmingham in England.

Residents throughout the region, mainly from within around 40 km of the epicentre, felt the impact the incident. Many said their houses shook, with one man comparing the natural event with ‘a bomb going off’.

While Google's Android Earthquake Alerts System attributed the quake to 4.2 magnitude, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) put it at 3.8.

Posting to Facebook, user Danielle Morgan said:

It definitely felt a lot worse than a light shaking in Ebbw Vale. We thought someone had crashed into the cars on our drive. Frightening! Brought the whole estate out wondering what was going on! The whole house shook to the core.

Responding to her post, Jason Humphrys wrote:

I heard a loud bang that sounded like a bomb just went off then my entire kitchen shook, my cat was frightened – it was weird, it only lasted seconds but it left an impact.

Weighing in on the conversation, Hayley Ann said:

My bed moved side to side ... I thought it was collapsing beneath me. Didn’t feel light at all.

Helen Caswell added:

Our whole house shook in Rassau, Ebbw Vale and woke my husband up!! Really frightened us.

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When is the earthquake considered dangerous?

Brian Baptie, BGS's head of seismology, said it was the largest earthquake in south Wales since a 4.6 magnitude quake about 40 km west, near Swansea, in February 2018.

He added that, on average, Britain only gets about one earthquake with a magnitude of 3.7 or greater each year. The largest earthquake ever recorded in the UK was in the North Sea on 7 June 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1.

Over 500 000 earthquakes of magnitude between 2.5 and 5.4 happen each year globally. They are often felt but only cause minor damage and are nothing to be worried about.

But anything above magnitude 5.5 poses a threat to human life, especially in densely populated areas, and can totally destroy communities near the epicentre.

A series of massive quakes that struck the city of Antakya in Turkey near the border with Syria and devastated both countries on 6 February, killing 44,000 people, had a magnitude of 6.4. Buildings weakened by those tremors collapsed on both sides of the border.

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Sources used:

- Independent: '‘My whole house shook’: Earthquake hits parts of UK as midnight tremor ‘like bomb going off’'

- BBC News: 'Turkey earthquake: Deadly new tremor traps people under rubble'

- BBC News: 'Earthquake: Brynmawr, Cardiff and valleys feel tremors'