Scottish village hit by earthquake

An earthquake measuring 2.4 on the Richter Scale shook a tiny Scottish village yesterday. The tremor, in Blackford, near Auchterarder, Tayside, caused dozens of people to contact the RAF's Kinloss base fearing sonic booms had been caused by jets flying supersonic.

Glen Ford, a seismologist at the Edinburgh-based British Geological Survey, described the quake as "substantial" in terms of the physical effects felt. He said there were about 25 earthquakes, measuring around 2.4 on the Richter Scale, recorded throughout the UK every year.