BIGGEST QUAKE IN A CENTURY:
THE biggest earthquake in more than a century hit Wales yesterday at a magnitude of 4.4. The epicentre of the earthquake, which happened at 2.31pm, was in the village of Cwmllynfell in Neath Port Talbot.
It was the biggest earthquake in more than 10 years in the UK, with the last major quake in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, measuring 5.2 in magnitude and being 16 times bigger than yesterday’s earthquake in Wales.
It was also the biggest earthquake in the area after the Great Swansea Quake of 1906.
Events as large as this happen every three to five years, the British Geological Survey said, with around 3,000 events of this size happening in the world every year.
Two aftershocks were also officially recorded. The British Geological Society said the first was at 3.09pm, with a magnitude of 1.2, and the other at 1.5 happened at 4.27pm.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said 10 million people could have been affected by the earthquake.
It led to panic in the UK as it was felt from Cornwall to Blackpool, the Isle of Wight and of course, Wales.
The landlord of a pub near to the earthquake’s epicentre thought a lorry had gone through the building.
Tracey Pritchard, 35, who runs the the Dillwyn Arms Hotel in Pontardawe, said the tremors were so strong they thought their building had been hit.
She said: “We thought a lorry had gone into the building and we actually went outside to look because we’re on a crossroads. But one of our customers went online and saw it was an earthquake.
“It’s just surprising, we’ve never had anything like this before.”
The supervisor of the Nisa store in Cwmllynfell said he thought the earthquake was because of a nearby mine.
Mike Lewis, 60, said: “We felt it. We’ve got open shelves with bottles of wine and beer and they were shaking.
“We’ve got an open-cast mine nearby and I thought it might have been that they used too much dynamite. “I didn’t expect it, not here.” Neath Port Talbot councillor John Warman said his phone had not stopped ringing.
He said: “My phone hasn’t stopped. People have been calling asking if I knew what it was. They were wondering if it was maybe something to do with gas or water underground.
“The floors were moving in their houses. I called the gas and water companies in case it was something underground and they said they have had a lot of people calling them.”
One mum said her children were scared of going back outside after- wards.
Care assistant and mum-of-two Lisa Dix, 27, said: “We were in the house and didn’t feel anything but the kids were in the garden saying the garden had moved.
“We were a bit frightened because you do not really hear of this happening in Wales but in places like LA.
“Things in the garden moved, their toys and ball rolled down toward the gate.
“The children are fine but they were a bit frightened at the time. We told them it was because we have had water works going on. I didn’t think they would understand and might have been a bit frightened of going back in the garden.”
The father of actor Michael Sheen said he had never seen anything like it.
Meyrick Sheen, who lives in Baglan, said: “We have lived here for 40 years and we have never experienced anything like this before. It felt like a massive explosion underground.
“The walls shook, the lights flashed and the pictures were shaking. It was frightening.”
Ann Lewis, 52, from Aberdare, described the moment neighbours rushed out of their homes.
She said: “I’m just a bit shook up, it
“The walls shook, the lights flashed and the pictures were shaking MEYRICK SHEEN
was very strange.
“I was sat on the sofa watching Come Dine With Me and it just shook. It didn’t interrupt the signal.
“I’ve got quite a lot of glass furniture that was not cheap, so I hope it does not happen again.
“I ran out the front, I thought perhaps someone had hit something in a car.
“All the neighbours shot out of their homes and were saying, ‘What the heck was that?’
“Apparently the guy up the road was in the bath and the whole bath shook.
“I’ve been here 16 years and this a big solid house and I’ve never felt anything like this before.
“It’s my first earthquake and I’m hoping there are no more.”
Mountain Ash Golf Course in the Cynon Valley posted a photo showing its championship shield knocked over in its display case and there were reports that Swansea University’s Bay Campus was evacuated.
South Wales Police urged people not to phone the emergency services unless they had any damage or injuries to report.
Dyfed-Powys Police also said they were “receiving an extremely high call volume” but that there was “nothing to worry about”.
Officers in Cross Hands in Carmarthenshire had to remind residents that losing their internet connection after the earthquake was not an emergency and to contact their broadband providers.
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service also urged residents not to call them unless there was “structural damage or life risk”.