Quake, rattle ’n’ roll! Village hit by 3.1 tremor

IT is a small coastal village where locals are used to peace and quiet.

But residents in Achnamara had a rude awakening yesterday when a 3.1 magnitude earthquake shook homes and roused people from sleep.

Locals reported hearing an ‘almighty crash’ just before 2am. The epicentre was near Achnamara, Argyll, 3.7 miles from Lochgilphead, the British Geological Society (BGS) said.

The tremor was also confirmed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which said the quake took place 6.2 miles below the surface.

It was felt as far away as Edinburgh and Northern Ireland, according to the USGS.

Doris Linstead, 66, a member of the Lochgilphead Women’s Institute, said: ‘To me it was an absolute crashing sound, I thought something had fallen.

‘I never thought about an earthquake. It was such a crashing noise, as if the walls were reverberating. It must have been about a minute that it lasted.’

Victoria Winters, 53, felt the earthquake rumble through her home at Loch Fyne ‘like a freight train’, waking her and husband John, 73.

Alison Suter, 59, who lives 40 miles away in Oban, said: ‘My bed actually rumbled. My cat was asleep at the foot of the bed and she took a terrible fright and dived in beside me.’

There are 200 to 300 earthquakes in the UK each year, according to the BGS. Tremors between 3.0 and 3.9 magnitude occur on the mainland once every three years on average.

A Police Scotland spokesman said it ‘received a report of a possible explosion and the ground shaking’ at around 2am.

He added: ‘Following inquiries it was confirmed an earthquake had taken place in the Lochgilphead area. There are no reports of any damage to properties or utilities.’

Around an hour later, a 1.6 magnitude tremor was recorded at Roybridge, Inverness-shire.

BGS seismologist Davie Galloway said: ‘Most earthquake activity in Scotland is north of the Highland Boundary Fault, on the west side of mainland Scotland.

‘Earthquakes of the magnitude in Argyll are not that common, but they are not that rare either and the area is one of the most seismically active in the UK.’