Quake in Kent - Did the earth move for you?

[Boddie]

AOL REPORTS

Parts of Kent have been hit by an earth tremor.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre recorded a tremor of 5.0 magnitude around 4.3 miles south east of Ashford at 8.18am, according to its website.

Eyewitness Lorraine Muir told Sky News that chimneys had come down, gas and electricity supplies were off and people were being evacuated from their homes by the Salvation Army.

"We've been evacuated by the Sally Army, we've got no gas or electricity at the moment. It's chaos up here at the moment," she said.

The mother-of-four said she was in bed when the earthquake struck.

"I was very, very frightened, I'm still shaking a bit now."

Sharon Hayles, who lives in the village of Stanford near the Eurotunnel at Folkestone, said her house slid from side to side for about 10 to 15 seconds.

There was no damage to her home, but she said the tremor, which hit at 8.18am, shook the house like a "fun fair ride".

Fire officials said they were being inundated with "lots and lots" of calls from residents in the Folkestone area.

A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "We have had calls from people saying their chimneys have fallen down, and that large cracks have appeared in people's houses."

[Kymba]

I am in Chatham Kent and feel really cheated because we didn't feel a thing
have sat here in hysterics watching SKY NEWS covering this as their major story today..
It has been covering it continuously now for the last TWO and HALF HOURS!!!!!!!!
people calling in to say Tremour was felt for all of 10 seconds!!!! and they were really scared!!
Someone even rang them to see if we were going to get a Tsunami!! What is wrong with these people....
God help us if we have a real Disaster

[Boddie]

At least it wasn't Birmingham again. All our residents were running round saying

"Ours was considerably bigger than yours"


I love it when you ghet a bloke on the telly and he says "It lasted for 5 minutes" because he thinks it makes a geat sound bite. Then the experts say "No it was about 3 seconds" and all the blokes mates are in the pub making hand signals at their ex-mate.

[Kymba]

Well they reckon this one was felt in Essex and Sussex.... which is odd because we didn't feel it !! and Sussex is behind us!!!!

[svenrufus]

Originally Posted by Kymba

Well they reckon this one was felt in Essex and Sussex.... which is odd because we didn't feel it !! and Sussex is behind us!!!!

Nothing felt in this part of Sussex.

Mind you I was once involved in a quake stronger than this (can't remember the level) but was oblivious to it. Very disappointed, but only got myself to blame - I was so hung over at the time the whole world seemed pretty unsteady to me non-stop.

[pressld2]

I'm in North-west Kent, about forty-five miles from the quoted epicentre. Sure enough the whole house started shaking shortly after 8 this morning but that was just my 17 year-old son getting up for work!

Dave P.

[lol geoff]

Why is no one setting up an appeal for us?

We deserately need beer, birds and burgers.........Don't bother sending any blankets, the way the weather's going we won't need them 'till at least autumn.

[wildflower]

It must have been frightening i was living up north wales in the 1980s and we had one then and it happens so fast you dont realise what is happening..I remember jumping up and grabbing the hamsters cage as that was rattling quite loud..Its just a strange experience..fortunately their are not many casualtys..

[honeybee]

Where's Wild Woman? She's Kent isn't she? Can't believe nobody here has yet has reported experiencing anything,hope everyone's ok, been some quite bad structural damage.
I like the appeal, haha!

[Ukwildlifeo]

I blame global warming

[rlchew]

I live in Essex and it was supposedly felt here too .... well, I didn't feel a thing .

Richard

[Susie]

Nowt felt here. I slept though it. No change there then.

[Dan Salter]

I didnt even know anything about it untul about an hour ago when mum came home and told me ( its 9pm)...didnt feel a thing this morning ,
Although i was in a full in proper earth quake on the greek island of aegina and i nearly fell off my hired motor scooter over a cliffe ! .

but at 8am this morning i was sound asleep ...mind you...builders once demolished an old porch and built a new out outside my bedroom window , i didnt even wake. ...the shock i had when i got up and left via the front door !

ok im now wondering if any couples were "at it" at 8am this morning?..."Did the earth move for you ?"....

[balkantrek]

I live in Kent, on the northern coast and I was looking at pictures of lizards on the computer with my son when the earthquake struck. The desk shook a bit, causing the picture on the monitor to look a bit strange for a moment.

I knew what was happening because I have experienced a bigger one before in Bulgaria. I was staying in Burgas on the southern Bulgarian coast when a giant earthquake struck Turkey quite a few years ago. It caused the whole house where we were staying to shake violently and cracked all the walls.

[Olly]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

I blame global warming

LOL

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Where's Wild Woman? She's Kent isn't she? Can't believe nobody here has yet has reported experiencing anything,hope everyone's ok, been some quite bad structural damage.
I like the appeal, haha!

Don't panic, I'm here now. The reason I felt nothing was because I was in Blackburn, watching Charlton being thrashed. The knives have been hidden from my poor husband!

Back to the quake. I hope they check out the Channel Tunnel. That's a bit close for comfort.


Jules
PS If there's another quake please send chocolate.

[Kymba]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Don't panic, I'm here now. The reason I felt nothing was because I was in Blackburn, watching Charlton being thrashed. The knives have been hidden from my poor husband!

Back to the quake. I hope they check out the Channel Tunnel. That's a bit close for comfort.


Jules
PS If there's another quake please send chocolate.

Phew glad your both safe and well i was getting rather worried having not seen you all day
Sorry I ate the chocolate.. was the stress of not having the earth move for me

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by Kymba

Phew glad your both safe and well i was getting rather worried having not seen you all day
Sorry I ate the chocolate.. was the stress of not having the earth move for me

After today's annihilation I would have preferred the earth quake!

81 coaches went to Blackburn to witness that.

[Wild-Woman]

The authorities are saying that the tunnel is fine. That's good. But I do wonder how you check out 22 miles of tunnels in 24hours

I feel sorry for th 50 families that have had to move out in Folkestone.


Bet Folkestone Warren is awash with geolgists and seisemologists now.

[Rich]

I was woken up by it. It felt like the house had been picked up and dropped. A large jolt followed by 4 or 5 smaller jolts. It was obvious what had happened, and I looked out of the window to see the pond surface thrashing about.

We have a small, but long crack in the wall plaster the length of the house which isn't worth claiming on the insurance. The electricity and phone were off for about two hours.

Others aren't so lucky though, we went to a wedding in the evening and a couple were in jeans, they weren't allowed back into their house.

The fire brigade were using cherry pickers to remove broken chimney parts from the roofs of houses all night.

There is a fair amount of damage.

My wife arrived at work this morning to find big cracks in the plaster around the stair well.

Why is no one setting up an appeal for us?

We deserately need beer, birds and burgers.........Don't bother sending any blankets, the way the weather's going we won't need them 'till at least autumn.

Made me laugh!

[nightshade]

I don't suppose anyone has looked to see if France is any closer

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by nightshade

I don't suppose anyone has looked to see if France is any closer

Hang on a mo...


Nope - still can't see it from here

[Stewy]

That's a relief

[Rich]

I'll let you know when the dust settles.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by Kymba

Well they reckon this one was felt in Essex and Sussex.... which is odd because we didn't feel it !! and Sussex is behind us!!!!

Apparently the girls in Essex feel the ground move quite a bit!