MARKET RASEN EARTHQUAKE 27 FEBRUARY 2008 00:56 UTC 5.2 ML

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The largest UK earthquake in over 25 years struck just before 01:00 GMT on 27 February 2008. The epicentre was approximately 4 km north of Market Rasen, but the earthquake was widely felt across England and Wales, with the most distant reports coming from Aberdeen, Truro and Ireland. 

For those who were woken by their homes shaking, it was frightening. Some residents spoke of a roaring sound similar to a train or low-flying aeroplane while others thought a lorry had crashed into their house. 

One fire officer attending a chimney collapse in Gainsborough, Lincs - one of the worst-affected areas - said: "We're lucky it happened when most people were in bed. If it had happened in the afternoon we could have been looking at a lot more casualties as people would have been walking past."

The majority of damage was to chimneys, roof tiles and caused by falling masonry. Insurers estimated the cost at £30 million.

Shona Forsyth, 39, whose chimney collapsed into Portland Terrace, Gainsborough, said: "It was scary. I had just finished feeding my 15-month-old daughter and there was this really loud rumbling. The house was shaking.

"I looked out the window and thought at first a lorry had crashed into the house. We didn't realise what had happened until we saw the news. Everyone was out in the street in their dressing gowns."

The emergency services said the injury toll could have been much higher had the earthquake hit during the day.

The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated at 5.2 ML, making it the largest earthquake in the UK since a magnitude 5.4 ML earthquake struck the North Wales in 1984, which was also widely felt across England and Wales. Earthquakes of this size occur in the UK roughly every 30 years.  Although the earthquake was significant for the UK it was only moderate in global terms, with around 590 earthquakes of this size happening somewhere in the world every year.

Most of the world’s earthquakes occur at the boundaries between the Earth’s tectonic plates which are continually moving at a few centimetres per year. This process results in the build up of tremendous stress, which is then released in the form of earthquakes. The British Isles sit in the middle of the Eurasian plate and although we are far from any plate boundary (the nearest is in the mid-Atlantic) some of this stress is transmitted into the middle of the plate, combining with stress from other geological processes such as uplift, and resulting in so-called “Intraplate” earthquakes.