The British Geological Survey have pegged last night’s Earthquake as a 5.2 on the Richter scale (the USGS previously calculated a 4.7).

They calculate that the epicentre was focused at Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, half way between Lincoln and Grimsby.

• DATE : 27 February 2008
• ORIGIN TIME : 00:56 GMT
• LAT/LONG :53.42° North / 0.35° West
• GRID REF : 509.4 kmE / 392.7 kmN
• DEPTH : 5.0 km
• MAGNITUDE : 5.2 Richter Scale (ML)
• LOCALITY : Market Rasen, Lincolnshire

According to the BGS, this was the UK’s largest Earthquake for 24 years.

The epicentre is approximately 4 km north of Market Rasen and reports suggest that the
earthquake has been felt widely across England, with reports of damage to chimneys in
the epicentral area. Earthquakes of this size occur in the mainland UK roughly every 30
years, although are more common in offshore areas. This is the largest earthquake in the
UK since the magnitude 5.4 ML Lleyn Peninsula earthquake in 1984, which was widely
felt across England and Wales.

The Earthquake was widely felt and reported across much of the country but luckily, it seems, British structures are sturdy enough to survive a magnitude 5.2 earthquake without serious damage. There have been some reports of chimney stacks falling and the only known injury was caused by one such occurrence. A 19 year old student from Barnsley was pinned under a fallen stack and later taken to hospital for surgery on a broken pelvis.

Apparently, there was an aftershock in the vicinity of the main earthquake at 2:46am but, measuring only 1.8 on the Richter scale, you’d have had to be standing very nearby to actually feel it.

The UK media went predictably nuts over the earthquake early on but managed to calm down by about lunch time when they realised that they weren’t going to find any scenes of gore and devastation.

You can read the full British Geological Survey Press Release here.[pdf]