BRITAIN:AN EARTHQUAKE measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit the UK early yesterday morning, resulting in at least one injury and damage likely to exceed £10 million (€13 million) according to the Association of British Insurers.
In South Yorkshire, a 19-year-old man was left with a suspected broken pelvis after masonry crashed into his bedroom as a result of the tremor.
The quake was felt throughout the UK, with residents reporting effects as far away as Dumfries in Scotland, Swansea in south Wales, Bangor in Northern Ireland, and even Haarlem in Holland. It was registered by the instruments of the Irish Seismic Network.
The tremor hit at about 1am. Its epicentre was near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, but emergency services across the UK received calls following the incident.
An earthquake on the same scale could happen here but a tsunami would cause much more damage, an Irish earthquake expert has warned.
Tom Blake, experimental officer with the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, said Ireland's geological structure meant that it was never likely to experience earthquakes of a very high magnitude.
However, it would be more exposed if a tsunami originated in the Atlantic Ocean, he said. One such tsunami off Portugal in 1755 resulted in very high waves on the Cork coast within hours.
The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies has been recording earthquake activity since 1978 but Mr Blake said this did not go far enough and an early warning system for tsunamis was essential.
Ireland has two clusters of seismic activity, on the southeast coast and Donegal, according to David Chew, lecturer in geology at Trinity College Dublin.
"But earthquakes are very, very hard to predict," he said. The UK could expect an event of magnitude five about once every 20 years and such events were slightly less likely here. Ireland experiences one or two seismic events every year, but they are usually too small to be felt by most people, he said.
Last Thursday the Irish Seismic Network recorded an earthquake measuring 2.4 on the Richter scale at 2.40am in Donegal.
In December 2005 an earthquake measuring 2.8 was reported off Wicklow Head but no major structural damage was reported.
The largest earthquake felt in Ireland was in July 1984 and reached 5.4 on the Richter scale. Its epicentre was in North Wales but it caused structural damage on the east coast, breaking windows and affecting traffic lights in Dublin.
Yesterday's quake was the largest recorded in Britain since 1984 when an earthquake measuring 5.4 shook the Lleyn Peninsula of North Wales and was widely felt across England and Wales.
An old fault zone that has possibly remained dormant for hundreds of millions of years could be to blame for the earthquake, according to experts.
Robert Holdsworth, expert in structural geology at Durham University, said: "Most potentially damaging earthquakes like this occur near to plate boundaries such as the San Andreas fault. The UK, however, lies in the interior of a plate so this is quite unusual.
"Although the causes and controls of UK seismicity are still poorly understood, it is possible that this earthquake reflects the reactivation of an old fault zone that has lain dormant for tens or hundreds of millions of years.
"The UK crust is riddled with such old faults which form an important part of our geological heritage.
"Perhaps this one is just reminding us that it is still there."
- (Additional reporting from PA)
