Magnitude 4.2 quake affects Canterbury, Margate and Whitstable, with people jolted from sleep and taking to social media to express their alarm

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

An earthquake hit parts of Kent in the early hours of Friday morning, shaking houses, rattling windows and waking people in the county.

The magnitude 4.2 earthquake was being investigated by seismologists at the British Geological Survey which said tremors had been felt in areas including Margate.

BGS (@BritGeoSurvey) Here's seismicity map for this morning's 4.2 earthquake, 5km south of Ramsgate, Kent & approx 100km east of London pic.twitter.com/XaF9cRY4gm

Kent police were inundated with calls.

A spokesman said: “It has now been confirmed parts of east Kent has been affected by an earthquake measuring just 4.3 on the Richter scale (British Geological Survey).

“Police began receiving reports of the earthquake tremor in the east Kent area at around 2.57am. Police and the fire and rescue service had no reports of structural damage or injuries. We will continue to liaise with our partner agencies to ensure we are providing help and support in any areas needed.”



Musician Jake West was in his terraced house in Canterbury when he reported it started shaking.



“At 3am it’s normally quiet,” he told the Guardian. “There was silence, then there was shaking. It was very odd. It felt like there was someone very heavy who was stomping down the stairs.”

Jake West (@UKJakeWest) Either a giant just bounced on my roof, or I just felt a little earthquake. #kent

Other Kent residents tweeted their reactions after being woken by the tremors.

Katie Blackamore (@KateBlackamore) I thought someone was shaking me to get up and then realised the whole bloody house is shaking!

Katie Blackamore (@KateBlackamore) Worst thing is I immediately went to Twitter to find out what was going on and for reassurance that I wasn't going crazy. #earthquake

Vikki Petts said: “So we just had a 4.3 magnitude earthquake in Kent and my housemates slept through the entire thing. Certainly woke me up!”

Jonathan Tapp said: “Earthquake in East Kent and now can’t get back to sleep. Despite months spent in NZ this is my first one that I’ve felt.”

Iain Buchanan, of Ramsgate, said: “So I’m not going mental, my house shook due to an earthquake in Kent of all places. Thank god for 24 hrs news & social media to find out.

“Lying in bed when the house suddenly shook. Thought something had collapsed outside, so got up to check.

“I’ve looked outside and all appears to be fine in the street. No damage that I can see. Will obviously see more later when it’s lighter. Weird experience anyway.”

Other agencies initially recorded varying measurements, including the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, based in Paris, said the earthquake measured 4.3 on the Richter scale.

It tweeted: “M4.3 earthquake strikes 46km SE of Southend-on-Sea (United Kingdom).”

The US Geological Survey measured the quake as magnitude 4.0.

British seismologists sent a series of tweets in the early hours of the morning and provided some perspective by drawing a comparison with the disaster in Nepal:



BGS (@BritGeoSurvey) Today's 4.2 magnitude Ramsgate earthquake is approx 260,000 times smaller than the 7.8 #NepalQuake event

Some people having been having fun with that fact...

Mark Roberts (@cortexrock) First pic of #kent #earthquake damage comes in pic.twitter.com/7I7NFtk4wU

But all the same it was a relatively unusual event for the UK:

