UK Earthquake shakes whole houses - and knocks parrot off perch
25.02.2023 - 07:25
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
An earthquake shook parts of the UK just before midnight this morning (Saturday, February 25).
The quake's epicentre was reportedly three miles (4.9km) north west of Merthyr Tydfil in Walases, at a depth of around 2,000 metres — which is considered by seismologists to be a "very shallow". However, people from neighbouring counties in England reported feeling the tremor, including from Dudley and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, reports Wales Online.
On social media, people reported furniture moving and houses and homes shaking and creaking. Others reported being woken by the rumbles.
Kath Cartwright in Newbridge said on Facebook: "The bedroom wall was shaking… I had the light on so saw it plain as day. The whole house shook! A scary moment! Frightened the life out of me."
Meanwhile, in Fochriw, Ann Keating reported that her parrot fell off its perch.
Initial estimates suggested the quake measured a magnitude of between 3.8 and 4.2, despite many people being led to believe it had been much stronger. However, volcanodiscovery.com said of the earthquake: "Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface."
Strong tremors were felt in Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Pontypridd, and Abertillery.
Google's Android Earthquake Alert System reported the earthquake struck at 11.59pm on Friday, February 24, measuring a magnitude of 4.2. Experts explained that the earthquake would have been described as feeling like a "light shaking" in areas close to the epicentre. But some people say they were pulled from side to side or were moved across rooms in the chairs they were sitting in. Welsh resident @betharthur27 said on Twitter that their "house shook" and they felt like they were "being pulled from