FARNHAM residents were left shaken early on Wednesday morning as shockwaves from the worst UK earthquake in 25 years were felt across the country. The quake, which registered a magnitude of 5.2, had its epicentre in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, but tremors radiated as far as Farnham and left residents staring in disbelief as walls wobbled and windows rattled in their frames. Although it struck at around 1-30am, many residents clearly felt the vibrations, with one woman describing it as feeling like a train was passing by. Hale resident Stella Wiseman said: "It was really odd. I was actually reading a ghost story at the time so was quite relieved to discover what it actually was. "The sideboard shook first and then the walls started to vibrate. I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing as it felt just like a train was passing close to the house, but we don't live anywhere near a railway line. "There was a clear rumbling and the sound of tapping on the walls that lasted for around 10 seconds." Gary Price, resident of The William Cobbett pub, was about to fall asleep when the entire building vibrated around him. "I was just about to drop off to sleep when suddenly my whole room vibrated," he said. "I kept trying to work out what it was and because I was half asleep I thought it might have been my cats scratching at something under the bed or loose tiles falling off the roof." He went on to describe how he felt two separate vibrations - the first lasting for around 20 seconds, shortly followed by a 10-second aftershock. "Nothing was really shaking, the whole building was just gently vibrating in the middle of the night, with no real explanation. It freaked me out a little bit until I found out about the earthquake in the morning and then it all made sense." The British Geological Society has explained that the UK is prone to intra-plate earthquakes due to the cracks and fissures in the crust below caused by millions of years of geological activity. David Booth, seismologist for the society, said: "This kind of earthquake is generally felt by people at rest and although this one is the biggest recorded in the past 25 years, there have been bigger." He went on to explain that most people go about their daily business completely unaware that an earthquake may be occurring under their feet. "As the population of the UK increases, earthquakes tend to be felt more and more often and it might surprise people to learn that the UK gets on average between 20 and 30 such earthquakes each year. Fortunately, they often take place in sparsely populated areas or at times when people wouldn't notice them." Mr Booth explained that although Britain is not on a major plate line, such as Chile or San Francisco, there are plenty of occasions when tremors are big enough to be felt in the UK. "There are lots and lots of weaknesses in Britain's crust as we've had a very colourful geological past, involving millions of years of volcanic activity. We are also drifting further from America each year about as quickly as your finger nails grow and this pressure can result in earthquakes such as the one felt on Wednesday."
