Quake leaves UK shaking... with laughter
AS SEISMIC events go it was hardly among the world’s most, well, earth-shattering.
But Britain’s largest earthquake in a decade certainly rocked the nation’s funny bone yesterday.
People across the South West took to social media to reveal their ‘terror’ at the tremor, which hit 12 miles north-east of Swansea and measured 4.4 on the Richter scale.
Many posted on Twitter tongue-in-cheek photographs of garden furniture, wheelie bins and even sheep lying on the ground with the hashtag #earthquake.
One post showing a shattered flower pot included the caption: ‘We can rebuild!’ while an enterprising business appeared to be selling ‘survivor’ T-shirts.
The earthquake – the UK’s largest since Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, was hit by a 5.2 tremor in 2008 – was felt as far away as Liverpool, Birmingham and Cornwall.
Students were evacuated from Swansea University and play in the Welsh football league between Port Talbot and Taff’s Well was briefly halted. Mountain Ash Golf Club also reported that its championship shield had been knocked over. Police said they were unaware of any injuries.
One man from Porth in South Wales said of the earthquake, which hit at 2pm: ‘I was in my office reading the paper and the house jolted so violently it hurt my back. I was a little bit scared to be honest. It was very nerve-racking.’
A woman from Bruton in Somerset added: ‘It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It was like someone had come up and pushed my chair side to side. I’ve still got goosebumps.’