Rutland Earthquake: Tremor '100,000 times smaller' than Chilean quake felt in Midlands

The epicentre of the quake was Oakham in the East Midlands, the British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed

The epicentre of the 3.2 magnitude quake was in the area of the picturesque market town of Oakham (British Geological Survey)

A small earthquake measuring magnitude 3.2 has hit Rutland in the East Midlands.

The epicentre of the quake was Oakham in the East Midlands, the British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed.

The BGS tweeted: "We can confirm there has been an earthquake in the Rutland area."

There were no reports of any damage or casualties following the tremor, which struck after 7am and had a depth of 4km.

A spokesman for the BGS said earth movement measured this morning was around 100,000 times smaller than a recent magnitude 8.2 Chilean earthquake.

Former English rugby union player Austin Healey, who lives in the area, tweeted: "We've just had an earthquake in Oakham. The house was shaking for about 10 secs."

The BGS has also confirmed the quake was preceded by a much smaller one in Solihull in the West Midlands which happened at 19:16 BST on Wednesday of 0.9 magnitude.

The strongest quake to hit Britain was the 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake which had a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter Scale.