Bodmin, Cornwall was shaken by an earthquake yesterday with a magnitude of 2.2.
Experts at the British Geological Survey said the quake struck at 2.40am with its epicentre close to Bodmin, although it could be detected as far afield as Padstow and St Austell.
A 2.2 earthquake is classified as “minor” by experts.
In Newquay, the earthquake just sounded like thunder.
Inspector Dave Meredith, who lives in the Newquay area, sent out a message on Twitter, saying: “Woken up by earthquake last night. Whole house shook, followed by deep rumble. No damage.”
The BGS measured the depth of the Bodmin quake as three kilometres, pointing out that a minor tremor like this one was relatively common in the UK and rarely caused damage to property.
Seismologist David Galloway said the UK had between 150 and 200 quakes a year, but of these, only 20 or 30 are felt by anyone, although the larger ones in this country can cause structural damage. In the last major tremor, some roofs were damaged when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck Lincolnshire just before 1am on February 27, 2008.
Cornwall Earthquake 2016 – felt by a few people in Newquay.