The great Leighton Buzzard earthquake
Plates are rattled Decorations drop Residents shaken
A MINOR earthquake that rattled the sleepy market town of Leighton Buzzard has been described as “the most exciting thing that’s happened here for years”.
The 3.5 magnitude quake and three tremors caused no injuries and were part of “normal seismic activity”, the British Geological Survey said.
Damage was limited to spilled coffee cups and falling picture frames at 9.35am on September 8 – prompting an online joker to post a picture of some fallen bins and the vow: “UK 2020 earthquake: We will rebuild.”
Leighton Buzzard tattooist Paul Edge, 55, said he thought the earthquake was “brilliant”. He added: “As long as no one gets hurt I want another one. It’s the most exciting thing that’s happened here for years.”
But not all residents of the Bedfordshire town – population 37,000 – saw the funny side.
Billie Littlechild, 55, got a shock when a decorative mannequin hand plunged from her bathroom window during the strongest tremor.
The cocktail bar owner said: “I was at home when the first one happened.
“The room shook a lot and I heard a huge bang. I found out later it was a mannequin hand that had fallen in the sink. Fortunately it was not damaged.
“There are lots of jokes going around online but people are worrying.
“I’m not used to earthquakes and I don’t want my house to fall down.”
Lilly Stregheria, who is in her 50s, added: “The sky darkened and all the birds stopped singing, it was strange.
“Then there was an almighty bang and I thought a lorry or tree had hit the house. I am quite stressed about it, it’s a bit unnerving.”
Billie’s son Sam Littlechild, 21, mistook the first tremor for his sister banging on the door to wake him. He said: “It’s going to take some time for things to get back to normal, but we will pull through. “Leighton Buzzard will persevere.” The day the Earth moved was followed by several without any tectonic activity. But in the early hours of September 14, three more tremors struck. Fracking, the HS2 railway and a new housing estate have all been blamed. One local was told the activity was triggered by a secret underground tunnel to nearby spy base Bletchley Park. But BGS seismologist David Galloway said the tremors could be “swarm events” with more on the way over the coming weeks. He said: “If one of these happened in Japan or America or Greece people wouldn’t look up from their coffee.”