Biggest tremor in 30 years hits Moidart

FRIDAY’S earthquake in Moidart has gone down in the record books as the biggest on Scotland’s West Coast for 30 years, and felt from Tiree up the Great Glen.

The magnitude 3.8 tremor was recorded by the British Geological Survey (BGS) at its epicentre 5km below the wild Moidart peninsula at 3.43pm.

The BGS stated the earthquake was ‘felt across the west’, and recorded a second tremor two minutes later measuring 3.4, and an aftershock almost two hours later registering 2.2.

One stunned Moidart resident reported: ‘Been here all my born days and I’ve never felt anything like that before.’

‘It was very scary here in Acharacle,’ a resident of Ardnamurchan said, adding: ‘Thought the house was coming down.’

Two loud rumbles were also felt in Mallaig, and further south in Fort William where ‘it felt like a helicopter passing’ as offices and computer monitors shook, doors rattled and water bottles shoogled. Further east ‘in Fort Augustus’, another wrote, ‘our whole house shook to the foundations and objects rattled on shelves. Accompanied by a deep, booming rumble.’

‘Did anyone else out here just feel the earth move?’ asked one amazed reader 50 miles south of the epicentre near Oban. ‘I’ve never felt anything like that. The whole house was shaking, things rattling on shelves.’

Reports also came in from Tiree, Mull, Ballachulish, Kinlochleven, Skye and Balloch.

One person blamed a dodgy curry, while another accused a friend of dropping his wallet.