Another quake shakes the Island

Thursday 26 February 2015

The earth moved for many people in Jersey last night, just after they had got into bed.

An earthquake measuring 2.9 on the Richter Scale was recorded twenty miles off the South West coast at around 11 pm.

Jersey Met's Duty Forecaster John Searson said that having spoken to the British Geological Survey it looks likely that this is another aftershock from the much bigger quake that hit the Island back in July and measured 4 on the Richter Scale - the biggest earthquake the Island has seen in the last century. It led to a number of smaller tremors like this one.

The Survey tweeted this morning that they'd had reports from Islanders that the quake "sounded like thunder at first" and that they'd "heard a rumble for about 2-3 seconds." They have produced this map to show exactly where it struck at a depth of 6km.

The British Geological Survey now want to map its reach so if you felt the earth move last night you can report it here. 

In 1853 Jersey recorded an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2, followed by one of 5.1 in 1926 and another of 5.2 in 1933. The area around the British Isles gets 150-200 earthquakes a year.