Surrey has been shaken by a third earthquake in the space of eight days, the British Geological Society has confirmed.

The organisation said there had been a 3.1-magnitude shake at 11.43am on Thursday, with residents reporting that it felt like "two huge explosions".

"A number of reports have been received from members of the public in Newdigate, Dorking, Horley and Charlwood, Surrey and from Crawley and Horsham, West Sussex," it said.

"Reports describe 'was outdoors close to a building and you could hear it creak', 'felt large impact then 2-3 seconds of shaking', 'felt much bigger than the last two recent quakes', 'it was like two huge explosions', 'my chairs at the table shook and the lights moved'."

We've posted details of this Morning's 3.1 event in surrey on our website- https://t.co/0kFnAwLOFV pic.twitter.com/pGwZlbEzw5 — BGSseismology (@BGSseismology) July 5, 2018

People at Gatwick Airport also reported feeling tremors.


Matt Temple told Sky News: "I was at work in our office at Gatwick Airport with four colleagues. We felt the building shake and a dull banging/thud noise.

Just felt an earthquake at Gatwick Airport - felt whole building move and a dull banging noise. (11:53am) #earthquake #sussex — Matt Temple (@mattdesignme) July 5, 2018

"From the sound we initially thought maybe a vehicle had crashed into the building or someone had dropped something heavy on the roof above us. But then we thought it was an earthquake as it felt strange and the building seemed to wobble and creak.

"I searched on Twitter for 'earthquake' and within seconds there were loads of other people saying they'd felt it in towns around here."

Residents might be forgiven for wondering what is going on after similar shakes on Thursday 28 June (2.4) and Wednesday 27 June (2.6).

There were reports of "a loud bang and the whole house shook like a truck had crashed into it" for about two seconds after the quake last Wednesday.

Image: Surrey has been hit by an earthquake for the third time in two weeks. Pic: British Geological Survey

Surrey Hills Radio reported the latest tremor was felt across Surrey - including Dorking and Redhill.

"More on the #earthquake tremor in #Surrey - rumbles could be felt around the area in #Dorking #Redhill #Crawley with reports of houses physically shaking," they tweeted.

Trevor Harlock also posted: "Earthquake in Surrey!! Just felt a tremor in Charlwood.. 11:55 the earth shook and glasses in our kitchen cabinets jangled together. Wow."

Planetary geologist Divya M Persaud felt the effects of the quake at work.

She told Sky News: "I'm located at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Dorking - we felt the earthquake at 11:53am.

"I'm on the ground floor of my building and we felt the room shake for a little less than a second. Nothing in the room shifted but I could tell it shook some items in our office."