BBC
News
 | | The
tremor was felt in Dumfries |
An
earthquake measuring 2.9 on the Richter scale has shaken a Scottish town.
Dumfries
residents were rocked by the tremor on Sunday morning.
No-one was injured
in the minor quake at 0927 BST, which lasted a few seconds.
But Dumfries
and Galloway Constabulary received more than 100 calls from concerned members
of the public.
A police spokeswoman said: "We had some reports about
slates coming off roofs, but overall their was minimal damage and no one was injured."
Bennett Simpson, seismologist at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh,
said: "A large number of people in Dumfries felt this.
"We received reports
of people claiming their houses shook and of some residents running out into their
back gardens.
"There are around 200 to 250 earthquakes in the UK every
year so this is not an unusual occurrence, and of these about 30 are felt."
Largest
tremor
However, he pointed out: "The energy generated by the Dumfries
quake is 30 million times smaller than that unleashed by the earthquake in India
in January."
At least 30,000 people are estimated to have died in the
Gujarat quake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale.
Mr Simpson said
Sunday's earthquake was the largest tremor in the Dumfries area since 1984, when
there was one measuring 2.7.
There have been 40 earthquakes within 10km
of today's epicentre in the last 30 years. |
