Lancashire shaken by earthquake which ‘made a thunder noise’

The British Geological Survey said the earthquake was 2.5 magnitude

Lancashire was shaken by a 2.5 magnitude earthquake early on Friday morning.

The quake rattled the village of Silverdale at around 5am, with tremors reported as far away as Blackpool and Flookburgh.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the quake was felt across the Morecambe Bay area, with residents describing “a quick, sharp shaking jolt” accompanied by “a thunder noise,” and others reporting that radiators and pictures had been shaken.

One person said the “noise was like an impact. I thought it might be something falling against the house like a tree.”

Another reported: “It woke us up and felt like an explosion and the radiators and pictures rattled.”

The quake comes two weeks after another 3.3 magnitude tremor in the same area.

The BGS told The Independent that last night’s quake is considered an “aftershock” to that more powerful event, and that the two incidents are linked.

The previous quake happened just off the coast of Silverdale on 3 December at a depth of 1.86 miles. This morning’s tremor was at a depth of 1.61 miles and in the same area.

Silverdale in Lancashire is the village closest to the epicentre of the quake (PA Wire)

Locals close to the epicentre of the previous earthquake told the BGS it “felt like an underground explosion” and was “so powerful it shook the whole house”.

The BGS’s seismology team told The Independent the quakes were due to “movement on a previously unknown fault”.

They said “the stresses causing this result from the movement of tectonic plates”.

While the official epicentre of last night’s tremor was close to the previous quake – “less than 2km” away, the team said it could in fact “be the same place within our location uncertainty”.

“The event last night was an aftershock following the event in the same region earlier this month. Aftershocks are not unusual,” they said.

Data suggests the quake occurred just off the coast of Silverdale (PA Wire)

Those concerned about whether the terra is still indeed firma in the Lancashire area should not worry, the seismologists said.

They added: “The seismicity experienced across the UK falls within the expected amount of activity. Whilst nationally, earthquakes are spread throughout the year, it is common for small groupings of earthquakes to occur regionally.

“Whilst the events in Lancashire were not small by British standards, they are nowhere near the magnitude of earthquakes found in other parts of the world.”

The BGS records between 200 and 300 earthquakes across the UK each year, but only 20 to 30 are typically strong enough for people to feel. Most tremors are so small they’re picked up only by monitoring equipment, and the vast majority cause little to no damage.