AP News, April 28th, 2007
A moderate earthquake rattled parts of southeast England on Saturday, toppling chimneys from houses and rousing residents from their beds.
Several thousand people were left without power in Kent county, EDF Energy said. One woman suffered minor head and neck injuries, the ambulance service said.
"It literally felt like the whole house was being slid across like a fun-fair ride," said Sharon Hayles of Stanford.
The British Geological Survey said the 4.3-magnitude quake struck at 8:19 a.m. and was centered under the English Channel, about 8 1/2 miles south of Dover and near the entrance to the Channel Tunnel.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 4.7.
Witnesses said cracks appeared in walls and chimneys collapsed across the county. Residents said the tremor lasting about 10 to 15 seconds.
"I was lying in bed and it felt as if someone had just got up from bed next to me," said Hendrick van Eck, 27, of Canterbury, about 60 miles southeast of London.
"I then heard the sound of cracking, and it was getting heavier and heavier. It felt as if someone was at the end of my bed hopping up and down."
There are thousands of moderate quakes on this scale around the world each year, but they are rare in Britain. Saturday's quake was the strongest in Britain since 2002, when a 4.8-magnitude quake struck the central England city of Birmingham.
The country's strongest earthquake took place in the North Sea in 1931, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale.
British Geological Survey seismologist Roger Musson said Saturday's quake was in an area that had seen several of the biggest earthquakes ever to strike Britain, including one in 1580 that caused damage in London and was felt in France.
"It was a matter of time before we had another earthquake here," he said.
