‘The whole house shook!’ Earthquake strikes Cornwall as residents fear area is being hit by sonic boom or an explosion
- Tremor felt by people in Helston and Redruth in west of county just before 5pm
- 2.2 magnitude quake’s epicentre was around three miles from Falmouth
- Residents reported hearing ‘loud bangs’ and feeling homes and windows shake
- Tremor likely caused by movement in Carrick Thrust fault line under Cornwall
By Rory Tingle and Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 18:32 EDT, 8 August 2019 | Updated: 02:34 EDT, 9 August 2019
Cornwall was hit by an earthquake last night that shook houses and left terrified residents fearing there had been a plane crash.
The 2.2 magnitude tremor was felt by residents in Helston, Redruth, Falmouth and along the coast in the south-west of the county at 5pm yesterday.
People said there was prolonged shaking that rattled windows and doors as well as a series of bangs and a single loud ‘sonic boom’.
The earthquake’s epicentre was in the Channel around three miles off Falmouth, and is likely to have been caused by movement in the Carrick Thrust fault line that runs along the south coast of Cornwall.
Resident Steve Cowe told Cornwall Live: ‘We were sat in the living room watching TV and thought it was something crashed into the house or the side of the house, it was that kind of shake.
‘In seconds everyone came out of their houses on the street or were looking out the windows.’
Steve Cowe tweeted in the aftermath: ‘What the hell was that! The whole house shook! #Cornwall #sonicboom’
The epicentre of the quake was around three miles south west of Falmouth (pictured)
Other reports came in from Twitter after the tremor. One man said: ‘What the hell was that! The whole house shook’
UK has 300 earthquakes every year
There are up to 300 earthquakes recorded every year in Britain, but most are too small for people to notice them.
Britain’s biggest earthquake struck the North Sea on June 7, 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1 and with an epicentre offshore in the Dogger Bank area.
The largest on land was in Wales in 1984.
An earthquake happens when rocks on either side of a weakness in the Earth’s crust – known as a ‘fault’ – slip, which makes the ground shake.
The slip begins at what is known as the ‘focus’, while the the point on the Earth’s surface above the focus is the ‘epicentre’.
The biggest quakes normally observed in Britain are around the 4.0 to 5.0 mark on the Richter scale, which means they are often felt but rarely cause damage.
He added: ‘We live near Culdrose thought it was an aircraft crash to begin with. It was too loud for thunder’.
Another Helston resident told ITV news: ‘The earth started to move a bit, started to tremor. There was a rather large crash and of course nobody knew what it was.
‘We went outside and there were a few other people looking to see what it was as well. We thought at first it could have been a car crash or thunder.’
The British Geological Survey confirmed the quake, which had a depth of 1.7 miles, while its epicentre was around three miles south west of Falmouth.
Other reports came in from Twitter after the tremor.
One man said: ‘What the hell was that! The whole house shook.’
One woman took to Twitter to say: ‘Just had a small earthquake in Cornwall. My beer is still standing so we are all good.’
Another Twitter user, Justine O’Donohoe, said: ‘So we’ve apparently had a small earthquake in Cornwall. It was such an eerie sensation.’
The quake had a depth of 1.7 miles. Pictured is it’s epicentre on Cornwall’s south coast near Falmouth
British Geological Survey systems picked up the in the Helston and Redruth area at just before 5pm
The tremor was felt by residents in Helston and Redruth in the west of the county at just before 5pm and reported by the British Geological Survey
Another resident said: ‘Loud bang from beneath ( I was sat on sofa). Windows shook.’
Meanwhile, one man suggested the quake could have been caused by a ‘explosion or sonic boom’ – although these theories were proved to be false by the British Geological Survey confirming it was a quake.
The organisation said there are around 15 incidents of this size or more in the UK each year, but globally around 700 every day.
Surrey was rocked by a 3.3 magnitude earthquake on February 27.
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