UK shaken and stirred after quake strikes

An Earthquake shook the UK today, damaging buildings and leavingat least one person injured.

The tremor hit at around 1am and was measured at 5.2 on theRichter scale.

Its epicentre was near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, but theeffects of the quake were felt throughout the country.

As far away as Wales, Scotland and London, there were reports ofresidents being woken from their sleep by the tremor.

Emergency services across England received a high level of callsfollowing the incident, many from people who were frightened whenthey were woken up to find their home shaking.

It resulted in at least one injury. A man from Barnsley, SouthYorkshire, needed hospital treatment after a chimney collapsed andfell into his bedroom. The British Geological Survey (BGS) initiallygave the magnitude for the 12.56am earthquake as 5.3 on the Richterscale but later said it was closer to 5.2. It said the centre wasfive miles east of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, and about 15 milessouth west of Grimsby.

Seismologist Brian Baptie, of the BGS, said: "This is asignificant earthquake for the UK and will have been widely feltacross England and Wales."

The BGS said it records around 200 earthquakes in the UK eachyear - an eighth of which can be felt by residents.

It said earthquakes of this size occur in the mainland UK aroundevery 30 years but are more common in offshore areas.

Today's quake is the largest since 1984 when an earthquakemeasuring 5.4 on the Richter scale shook the Lleyn Peninsula ofnorth Wales.

Last April, residents in Kent were hit by a similar tremor.Residents in five streets in Folkestone had to be evacuated due tostructural damage as a result of the earthquake.

Today's quake was felt across the UK.

People as far apart as Yorkshire, Manchester, Merseyside,Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and London said they feltthe tremor.

Bernard Wakefield-Heath, 49, of Stroud, in Gloucestershire, saidthe tremor shook his block of flats.

Mr Wakefield-Heathsaid: "I live in the middle section and I couldfeel everything around me move, shaking quite considerably. Itlasted about 10 to 15 seconds at least."

The quake may have been felt as far north as Dumfries inScotland.

A spokeswoman for Dumfries and Galloway Police said: "A ladycalled during the night and said she had felt a very slight tremor.She wondered if there was something going on."